Slow Me Down
by leogalsis
Summary: After 5 years of being in a coma, Casey's husband Derek finally wakes up, only having memories up to his high school graduation with no memory of life with Casey. Will Derek remember his love for Casey or will his time run out before he gets a chance?
1. Nothing Ever Stays Perfect

a/n: hope you all enjoy the story! Reviews are always appreciated

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: Nothing Ever Stays Perfect

"Mommy, mommy, I'm hungry!"

Casey heard a small voice say, shaking her awake. She groaned and closed her eyes tighter. Her personal, free alarm clock was here: right on time. She was just surprised that her daughter's partner in crime wasn't with her.

"Mommy, I'm hungry too!" another voice said.

'Aw, there she is,' Casey thought. She opened her eyes slightly, looking at her four year old, identical twin daughters, Lily and Ella. Both girls had her blue eyes and their father's brown hair. Casey could tell the difference between them though; mostly through their personality.

"Lily, Ella, can you ask daddy, I'm a bit tired and it will take me a while to get out of bed," Casey said just as she saw her husband come out of the master bedroom washroom. She saw that his hair was damp and she assumed that he just finished his morning shower.

He smiled as the two girls ran towards him. He bent down, pulling them into his arms before they collided with his legs. He spun them around, causing them to giggle with joy, grabbing onto him for dear life, afraid that he would drop them; but there was no doubt that, that would never happen.

"Now what's all this about someone being hungry?" he asked the twins.

"We want food!" Ella shouted

"Please!" Lily said, not forgetting the manners that Casey taught them.

"Well, I suggest that we get food," he said as he put the twins down.

The girls giggled some more as they ran out of the room and down the stairs, toward the kitchen.

Once they left, he went over to his wife and Casey quickly shut her eyes, turning over, in hopes that he would go away, but she had no such luck.

"Case, time to get up, Anna and Sabrina are coming over today, remember? You three have to organize all the dance costumes," he said into her ear.

Casey groaned. She knew she had to get up but she hated this part of the year, it took hours to organize all of the costumes.

"Up!" he commanded, grabbing the sheets on the bed and yanking them from Casey's grasp.

Casey turned over, looking straight up at her husband. "You'll have to help me, I can't get up by myself anymore," she said to him.

"Um… maybe I'll leave you here, or just stand back and watch you waddle your way up," he said, taking a step back.

Casey gave him an annoyed look. "Do I need to remind you that I am carrying _your_ child, your baby boy. You're the one who impregnated me nine months ago and just because you don't have the body fat to carry around with you everywhere doesn't mean you can leave me," Casey said, trying to sit up.

"Is that the way to talk to the father of your future son?" he said, turning around, getting ready to leave.

"Derek!" Casey screamed at him.

Derek quickly turned around, still smirking. He grabbed her hands and helped her up.

"Thank you," Casey said, letting go of his hands and Derek wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're welcome," Derek replied, not breaking his gaze from hers. Casey tried to move but Derek kept her trapped between him and the bed.

"Derek, the girls are hungry," she said.

"I know, but I just like to look at your lovely face," Derek said, then pulled her in more to kiss her.

"Ew!" Lily and Ella cried. Derek and Casey broke apart and he ran to Lily and Ella. The two girls screamed and tried to run but he caught them before they made it to the stairs, carrying them down, one in each arm.

Casey shook her head and then started to get ready. Her two friends were coming over in an hour. Anna and Sabrina were the other two co-owners of the dance studio. She still couldn't believe that she actually owned a dance studio. It had been her dream, but she never thought it would become a reality not having enough money to start it on her own, but then she met Anna and Sabrina in university and they all seemed to click. It seemed like they always had been best friends.

What was great was that they danced too, and a year after they finished university, they opened up a dance studio, called 'Jump Dance Studio.' Now three years later, they were still making more money than the year before, growing and teaching children not only dancing, but how to show their emotions through dancing.

Once Casey finished everything she needed to do upstairs, she slowly travelled down the stairs. It was hard to move up and down the stairs for her now, so once she was downstairs, she didn't go back up until Derek arrived home from work. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she peeked at her living room, where it was usually very clean but today it was filled with tons of costumes that needed to be sorted.

She then turned to her kitchen, which Lily and Ella were barrelling out of. They quickly put on their shoes and then grabbed their bags: they were very independent four-year-olds. Derek came out behind them, handing Casey some orange juice since she couldn't have coffee.

"Thanks," she said, sipping her drink. "You better hurry up or they'll be late."

Derek always seemed to be rushing them out the door. Usually she would be driving the girls to school but Derek stepped in a lot when she got into her third trimester of the pregnancy.

"No they're not, not if I can help it. Oh, I made you breakfast, it's on the table," he said kissing her cheek. "Bye, love you," he said before he ushered the twins out of the door.

"Love you too! Have a good day," Casey called after them, waving as she watched Derek drive away. She closed the front door and walked to the kitchen where Derek left her breakfast for her. When she was about to sit, the phone rang. She quickly grabbed it, picking it up as she was sitting down.

"Hello?" she said into the phone.

"Hey, so how's the mother to be?" a voice asked her.

Casey smiled. "Hey Darrin, just on time," she said. Darrin always called her in the morning to ask her how she was doing during the pregnancy. She met Darrin when she was in university. He was Sam and Derek's friend first and when she met him, they seemed to hit it off. He was very skinny and wimpy looking but he had a kind heart: she considered him as her brother.

"So how are you?" he asked.

"Fine, yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm fine too. So what are you up to today?"

"Just organizing the costumes with Anna and Sabrina," Casey replied.

"Oh, so you will be home all day."

"Seems like it."

"Well I'll let you go then. I'm sure you have stuff to do before Anna and Sabrina get there. I'll talk to you later," Darrin said.

"Bye," Casey said.

She then hung up the phone and began to eat her breakfast. Not long after, her doorbell rang and she opened it finding Anna and Sabrina.

"Hey," Sabrina said, walking in as Anna followed, caring snacks in both her arms.

"We're not eating those while we are going through the costumes," Casey declared.

"I know, just figured that we would get hungry so I brought snacks. I'm going to put them in the kitchen, far away from the costumes," Anna replied.

Once she put them down, she joined Casey and Sabrina in the living room, where they were staring at the costumes.

"So, let's get started," Anna said, rubbing her hands together. Only Anna was excited at the thought of spending hours sorting. She found sorting very relaxing, unlike Casey and Sabrina, who both sighed when she said it.

--

After dropping the twins off at school, Derek drove to his work. He and Sam opened up their own sports store when they finished university. They both really enjoyed talking to customers, helping them find whatever they needed. They loved being their own boss and making their own hours, which was great for Derek and Sam, both having families.

Derek unlocked the door, turned on the lights, and flipped the sign to indicate that they were open. Not long after he entered the store, he heard the phone ring.

"'All You Need In Sports,' Derek speaking, how may I help you?" Derek said into the phone.

"Hey Derek, just called to see how it was going." Derek heard the voice say.

"Darrin, hey man, how are you?"

"Good, yourself?" he asked.

"I'm great, so did you call Casey yet?" Derek asked, knowing that Darrin was always worried that something might happen to Casey during the pregnancy. He assumed it was because Darrin had seen his mother go through five miscarriages and dying the sixth time.

"Yeah, just talked to her. She seems fine."

"That's good."

"Hey, so I take it you're at your store," Darrin said.

"Yup, just opened up."

"I take it no customers yet or else you wouldn't be talking to me."

"Yup, you know me so well," Derek replied.

"Yeah, so I gotta go, I have my own job to get to," Darrin replied.

"K, bye," Derek said, hanging up the phone just as Sam walked in.

"Hey, I brought coffee and doughnuts," Sam greeted.

"Um, are these invisible doughnuts?" Derek asked, taking a coffee from Sam.

"No why?"

"Where are they?" he asked. Sam looked at his hands, realizing that he wasn't carrying any doughnuts.

"Shit, I left them in the car," Sam said, running out of the store.

Derek shook his head and sipped more coffee. At this moment, Derek was happy. He had a great family and loved his job. He was enjoying life. What was even better was that he was going to soon get a son, another child to love and adore and he couldn't wait.

Yes, Derek was happy, which was why he didn't see the forthcoming event. The one that would change his life as well as everyone's around him. Well, his happiness isn't to blame for this event. Derek had no way of seeing into the future. If he did, he would have stayed home, gone with Sam to get the doughnuts, or locked the store door. He didn't do any of those things because he didn't know.

No one could have known except for the next person that walked into the store.

When Derek heard the jingle of the bell, he came out from the back, where his office was and went to the counter. This was where he was faced with a masked man and a gun.

Derek didn't waste any time: he put his hands up in the air, showing the masked man that he didn't have anything to use as a weapon.

"Hey man, take whatever you want," he said. He didn't stutter like most people would, he was too much in shock to even think about stuttering. He never thought that he would see a gun ever in his life, living and Canada where they are illegal. Of course, he knew that people had smuggled guns across the border but he never thought he would see one.

Derek thought about situations like this and what people said. He had heard that his life was suppose to flash before his eyes if he was in a near death experience. All Derek was thinking about though was Casey, his two daughters and his unborn son. How he needed to be alive for them.

He watched the masked man but he didn't move the gun, he didn't do anything or say anything. He just stood there, which Derek thought was weird. He had seen many burglaries on T.V. and usually this was the time the robber told him to open the cash register.

It was only then that Derek looked at the gunman's eyes and at that moment, he knew that this man didn't intend to rob him. The last thought that went through his mind before everything went dark was Casey dancing. How graceful and beautiful she looked when she danced and he wished that he would be able to see that one last time.

--

Sam was carrying the doughnuts, walking back to the store when he heard the gunshots. At first, he didn't think anything of it, never hearing a gun shot before. He thought it was just a car backfiring. But then he saw the masked man run out of the store and Sam knew something had gone terribly wrong.

He dropped the doughnuts and ran towards the store. Once he was inside, he didn't even slow his speed as he ran to the desk, shouting Derek's name but he didn't hear Derek call back. A second later, he knew why.

Derek was on the ground, unconscious, blood all around him. He didn't even know where the blood was coming from because there was so much.

Sam reached for the phone and fumbled to call 911. Once he reached a dispatcher, he almost shouted what had happened and then explained where he was. The dispatcher tried to get him to stay on the line but Sam had let go of the phone and took off his sweater, pressing it to Derek's head because blood was gushing out of it.

--

"Alright, so Monday's classes are done, names on everything, no costume seems to be torn, too small or too large. Praise everything that is holy, we should celebrate!" Anna said already standing up and walking to the kitchen.

"Anna don't take a break now! We haven't been at this for too long," Casey called.

"Yeah well I need to stretch my legs!" Anna called back.

"You should stretch your legs too," Sabrina said, helping Casey up. They began walking to the kitchen when the phone rang. Once they were in the kitchen, Anna passed the phone to Casey.

"Hello," Casey said into the phone as she reached for her water, taking a sip.

"Casey! Casey, you need to get to the hospital, there's been an accident!" Sam screamed into the phone.

"Whoa Sam, slow down," Casey said, unable to understand him since he was talking so fast.

Sabrina looked at Casey when she heard her say Sam's name. Sam and she were married and they had a three-year-old daughter and a four-month-old son. When she heard Casey say Sam, she knew something was wrong. Sam would have called Casey's house to talk to her and Casey would have passed her the phone right away.

Sabrina watched Casey's face fall, the smile that she had seconds before was now gone and a very painful expression replaced it. Casey dropped the glass that she was holding and the phone simultaneously and Sabrina jumped out to catch Casey before she fell to the ground. Glass shattered causing Anna to look up, realizing that something was terribly wrong.

Casey began to take in huge short breaths. Tears started falling down her cheeks as she began shaking her head. "I can't do this by myself! I can't do this! Oh the pain! The pain hurts too much!" Casey screamed, clutching her stomach.

"Casey, Casey look at me. You're having a panic attack, you're putting a lot of strain on the baby, you have to calm down or you could go into early labour," Anna instructed.

Anna's sister was a nurse, and she got free private lessons on how to control your emotions when pregnant because she hoped that Anna could use these tips in the near future.

While Anna was talking to Casey, Sabrina picked up the phone. "Sam what happened?" she asked.

"Derek's been shot!" Sam said, "Casey needs to get to the hospital, they're operating on him!"

"Sam I have to go," Sabrina said, knowing what kind of state she would be in if she heard Sam had been shot. "I have to call for an ambulance, Casey is going to go into early labour," she explained.

Casey was having contractions as she kept shouting that she couldn't do this alone. Sabrina quickly dialled, looking at Casey's face. Sabrina's worried expression was the last thing Casey saw, but her thoughts were elsewhere focusing on memories of Derek's face before her whole world went dark.

--

Casey opened her eyes the next day, seeing the sunlight coming through the window. She looked down and saw someone holding her hand. At first, she thought it was Derek but then she realized that it was Sam. Holding her other hand was Sabrina. She saw her mother and George on the couch with Anna. Everyone was sleeping, but once Casey moved, Sam opened his eyes.

"Hey," Casey said, trying to sit up, letting go of Sam and Sabrina's hands.

"Hey yourself," Sam said, calmly. He felt guilty that he called Casey, panicking her. He felt he should have known better.

"Where's Lily and Ella?"

"With Lizzie," Sam replied.

"And the baby?"

"He's very strong and healthy and I'm sure once the nurse comes in that she will bring him to you," Sam said.

"And what about Derek, is he, um…"

"He's alive, but…" Sam trailed off, knowing that the doctor advised him to tell Casey slowly about what happened to Derek.

"But what? Sam, please tell me, I need to know."

Sam looked down, he grabbed Casey's hand and covered it with his own. "He's in a coma. It seems that the bullet hit him in the side of the head. It didn't kill him but he's in a coma that he will most likely not wake up from," he said.

Casey nodded, having a few tears roll down her cheeks. "Can I see him?" she asked as a nurse came into the room. The nurse knew what was going on with both Casey and her husband.

"Of course you can," she said grabbing the wheelchair that was placed in the room for Casey to use. "You'll just have to be careful to not rip your stitches," she warned as she and Sam helped Casey into the wheel chair.

Sam pushed her to Derek's room, which was two floors above her own. The nurse came with them, warning her to stay calm. Casey did the breathing exercises that she learned in the birthing class that she took with Derek. She used them when she went into labour with the twins. She remembered to breathe in and out, but she highly doubted her birthing teacher ever meant for the breathing techniques to be used for this.

When Sam finally reached the room, Casey used her hands to push the wheels, feeling that Sam wasn't going fast enough. She didn't stop pushing until she reached the bed. She looked at Derek, and he just seemed to be sleeping with a tube down his throat. He looked so peaceful and it was then that Casey realized that even though the chance was low, there was still a chance that Derek could wake up.

"I'm not going to pull the plug, no matter what. I will not kill him," Casey told Sam, grabbing Derek's hand.

Sam nodded, knowing that if he were in this situation, he wouldn't want to pull the plug at first. He had heard about cases like this before though. His mother worked in the hospital at the coma unit. She told him that it was always sad to go from room to room because she would see hopefuls, the ones that have only had their loved ones in a coma for a few months. Then she would see them after a year, still trying to find that hope, but finally, after years, it gets too much for them and they pull the plug.

It was only a matter of time in these situations, his mother would say. This was the same situation that Casey was in now. The doctor said that Derek had a very low chance of waking up. Sam knew he wasn't waking up, and knew Casey was a realistic person and would agree to pull the plug at some point. It was only the question of when.

Reviews are always welcome


	2. Life Without Derek

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2: Life Without Derek

"Mommy, mommy," five year old Ben said, opening up his mother's bedroom door. He went to her bed but was surprised to see that she wasn't sleeping there.

"Mommy!" he cried, extreme fear entering his voice.

"I'm here Ben, don't worry," Casey said, running to pick him up into her arms. He clutched her neck in a tight hug. "See, nothing to worry about," she told him, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. She made a mental note to cut them soon because they were starting to cover his eyes.

"Let's have breakfast," she said carrying him downstairs.

Ben always woke up an hour before his older sisters did. Casey always made him breakfast, having him get dressed and ready for school first. Since he was the youngest, it took Casey longer to get him ready. She was grateful that her daughters were older, being able to get ready by themselves, and that they always wanted to help her with Ben. She couldn't ask for two better sisters for her youngest child.

Two hours later, Casey was ushering her children out of the car door, getting them to school. She kissed them all goodbye and watched them, Ben's hand in his sisters' as they walked him to the kindergarten schoolyard. As soon as she knew they made it there safely, she drove to the hospital, as she did every morning to visit her comatose husband.

Casey came everyday to the hospital to visit Derek for an hour. She spent it telling him about her life, what their kids were up to, and any little meaningless thing she could think of. She wanted him to be completely updated when he woke up. So, Casey parked her car in the visitors' parking lot and went to the floor where they kept all the coma patients. There, she waved to the nurse at the front desk. She had gotten so close with that nurse that they now exchanged birthday and Christmas gifts.

"Hey Bree, any changes?" she asked the nurse as she did everyday.

The nurse with a shake of her head and replied with the same answer: "No, the same."

Casey nodded to her before she went to the room. She always walked in slowly, never quite getting over the fact that Derek just looked like he was sleeping despite the tube that was down his throat. She settled in her usual chair and grabbed his left hand, holding it between her own.

"Hey Derek," she said, brushing hair out of his face as she did this morning with Ben.

"Yesterday was a fun night, you would have enjoyed it. We went over to Sam's and Sabrina's, celebrating Liza's birthday. I can't believe Liza turned eight, she's getting so big. I remember when she used to play with Lily and Ella in the playpen. After we had dinner and cake, Liza, Lily, and Ella played with the dolls that Liza got while Ben and Adam played some videogame that I'm sure you would have enjoyed. Sam, Sabrina, Darrin, Anna, and I had a nice conversation, like always. It was a nice night, I'm sorry that you missed it.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Casey said, reaching into her purse. "Ben drew a picture for you. It's a picture of all of us at the table, singing 'Happy Birthday' to Liza," she said, getting up to put the picture on the ledge with all of the other pictures that many children had drawn for Derek.

"I have to say, even though he is one of the best hockey players on the team, we might have an artist in the family. He seems to be good at everything he does: he loves hockey, but also jazz and tap ever since I put him in those dance classes. He and Adam are so cute together when they run away from the girls, claiming that they have cooties.

"Lily and Ella think that they're being stupid. They are becoming quite the little dancers themselves. Ella loves ballet, counting down the years that she gets to dance wearing pointe shoes. Lily likes ballet but I can tell her heart is leading her more to jazz although she is becoming more of an athlete everyday. She just joined the cross-country team since soccer season ended. She is starting to turn into a mini you," Casey just finished when the doctor walked in.

"Oh, sorry Casey, I didn't know you were in here," Dr. Johnson said.

"Don't worry about it. So, how are things?" she asked him, referring to Derek's condition.

"It's the same," he said before sighing. He paused to think about how to phrase this to her. "Casey, there has been no change for months now," he said calmly.

"He isn't losing his brain waves as quickly as he was before," Casey interjected.

Dr. Johnson sighed again. "No, it's not as fast, but Casey, he is losing brain waves everyday. He's not going to wake up from this. I'm telling you this because it's been five years and still you come here everyday, looking hopeful that maybe he woke up. Everyday when you leave, your face looks so painful, as if someone punched you in the stomach. I'm just afraid that-"

"That one day I might snap? That I will start crying hysterically and do something like set the hospital on fire?" Casey asked him. He had given her this speech once every couple of months. "You can relax doctor. I have too many people depending on me to have a break down. To answer your next question, I WILL NOT pull the plug and kill my husband," she said sternly.

"Casey it's been five years," Dr. Johnson said calmly, knowing that this was probably a lost cause. In the five years that he had known her, he learned how stubborn she could be. If it were anyone else married to Derek, they would have probably pulled the plug, wanting to get on with their life but not Casey. She had to hang onto anything that involved Derek.

"And in five years you will say, 'Casey it's been ten years' and I will say the same thing then as I'm saying now. I will not kill my husband. Until his heart stops beating on its own is when I will lose hope, not a second before. I have faith that Derek will wake up, no matter if it's in ten, fifteen, or thirty years. I will be here waiting for him to wake up,"  
Casey declared. This is what she said every time in this conversation.

"Alright Casey, I guess I'll see you later," Dr. Johnson said, stepping out to allow Casey to have time to speak privately to her husband.

"So where was I?" Casey asked the sleeping Derek. "Oh, right, I was going to tell you what I'm doing today. Well it's one of my favourite times of the year. Sabrina, Anna, and I are going to meet today to discuss which songs we want to use for each class. I hope no one took any of my songs, especially the one that I have already started choreographing to. I know you always told me to not be attached to a song because Anna and Sabrina could be attached to the same song but I don't think so. We barely pick the same songs anymore but it is always good to double check.

"That's in the afternoon, in the morning I have to go grocery shopping. We're almost out of food, but don't worry, your kids are well fed," Casey said, trailing off. She looked down at her sleeping husband, knowing that if he were awake, he would tell her to shut up because he wouldn't really have any interest in grocery shopping. As long as there was food, he didn't care what it was.

She looked at the clock on his bedside table, noticing that the hour was almost up. She had to get back to reality, doing all of the motherly duties, and fatherly duties before she had to pick up Ben from school. She kissed his forehead and then touched his hand again, squeezing it before she left. She hoped that Derek would squeeze back, but like the doctor said, he was probably not going to wake up.

"Bye Derek, love you, see you tomorrow," she said, squeezing his hand one last time before she walked out of the room. If she stayed a second longer though, she would have noticed something that had never happened before.

Derek's left hand twitched, almost as if it was trying to squeeze something. It stopped though, realizing that there was nothing but air.

--

"Mommy," Ben cried, jumping into her arms.

"Hey Ben," she said squeezing him once before putting him down. She then hugged Adam who followed behind Ben. Since Sabrina was coming over, Casey had offered to pick Adam up, since the two were in the same class. "Ready to go?" she asked them, making sure that they had their bags.

Ben and Adam both nodded, excited that Adam was coming over. Although it wasn't like they could be separated. They were on the same hockey team and in the same dance classes. Sam once told her that their friendship reminded him of Derek and his friendship.

Casey grabbed each child's hand and brought them to her car, driving home. She had a couple minutes before Anna and Sabrina were due, so she made Ben and Adam lunch and once they finished eating, they started playing a videogame in the living room. Sabrina and Anna arrived soon after and Sabrina kissed the top of the boys' head since they were too absorbed in the videogame to notice that she walked in.

"So for your grade one jazz class, you want '500 Miles.' Bringing in the oldies," Sabrina said to Anna.

"Hey it's a good song and besides, it's nice and slow for my kids," Anna said.

"Alright, let's move on them. Casey, what song do you want for your senior lyric class?" Sabrina asked. They were just finishing the list this class was the last one. Even though it was obvious that no one had thought of the same song, they each liked to know what song the others were doing.

"Well I actually found this song a couple days ago but I remembered dancing to it years ago. I fell in love with it all over again, it's called 'Slow Me Down,'" Casey said. Anna and Sabrina both nodded, remembering that Casey used this song for a solo piece when they were in university.

"So we're done, finally," Anna said standing up as Casey looked at her watch.

"Alright, I'll take Lily, Ella, and Liza to their dance classes tonight since it's my night to be there," Casey said.

The three women had a system to who would spend the night at the dance studio, so that they could have nights off. Casey always had Mondays and Thursdays while Sabrina had Tuesdays and Fridays and Anna had Wednesdays and Saturdays. Of course, that didn't stop them to drop by and trade some days. They all had a hard time staying away from the dance studio for too long. This arrangement also allowed Casey and Sabrina to help Sam with the store that Derek was shot in. It was Derek's dream to own his own business and Casey wasn't going to let that go.

"And I'll take Ben and Adam to hockey practice where of course I'll meet Sam and Darrin there. Those boys can't seem to get enough of watching the hockey practices," Sabrina said.

"And I'll be on a date with my six month hot, steamy, boyfriend," Anna added which made them giggle.

"Hope you have fun with that," Casey said as they all got up to leave.

Casey hugged and kissed Ben and Adam before she watched them get into Sabrina's station wagon. She waved goodbye, watching Sabrina drive away with her son in the back seat. Seconds later, Anna followed, having to get back to her house. As Casey closed the door, she heard the phone ring and she ran to the kitchen, grabbing the phone on the third ring.

"Hello," Casey said into the phone.

"Hey Casey!" Casey recognized the voice instantly.

"Emily?" she asked, just to be sure.

"The one and only," Emily replied.

"Hey, why are you calling? I thought you were in Europe," Casey said. Emily fell in love photography and took pictures for the 'Geographic Magazine.' She had been gone for two years. Of course, Casey still kept in contact with her through email but it was so good to hear her voice.

"Yeah, I just got back. My cousin is getting married and for some reason, she asked me to be the maid of honour. So I'm stuck here for the next eight months at least to help plan. Plus, this gives me time with my family and look for Mr. Right in Canada. I need a change from the German guys, Italian guys, French guys…" Emily trailed on making Casey laugh. It was good to talk to her old friend.

--

"So did you girls enjoy your classes?" Casey asked Lily and Ella after she dropped off Liza at her house. She was told that Darrin took Ben home, and would wait until she arrived. Casey really was grateful for her friends. She didn't really feel like a single mom with all her friends and family. Each one of them was always ready to babysit for her and help her with her kids at the drop of the hat. Without them, she probably would never be able to do half the things that she could.

"It was fun!" Lily said and Ella nodded in agreement.

Even though they shouted this, they look tired. Mondays and Thursdays were always long nights for her kids. Of course, she had to stay till the last class ended at the dance studio. Lily and Ella always fell asleep around nine, sleeping on the couch in the office and wake up on the ride home. For some reason, they could never stay asleep in the car. Ben was a different story, always falling asleep right at eight, maybe even seven, and slept like the dead. He took after Derek so much sometimes.

When they reached home, Lily and Ella hopped out, prepared to get ready for bed. Casey carried in their school and dance bags, placing them down in the hallway, looking up to greet Darrin.

"Hey mamma," Darrin greet from his seat on the couch as he flipped through the channels. He usually did this when he waited for Casey to come home.

"Hey, thanks for bringing Ben home," Casey said, plopping next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Don't mention it. I love that kid like he was my own. Love all your kids like that," Darrin said still staring at the T.V.

"I know. I'm glad that you're always willing to help but what about your life?" Casey asked.

She liked having Darrin around but she worried that his social life was suffering for it. He was always at Ben's practices and games. He came over constantly on Saturdays and Sundays to take them out to places like the Children's Museum or mini golf or bowling, etc. She worried about how he never seemed go out much. She couldn't remember the last time he had a date which upset her. He had so much to give, he would make someone so happy but he had to try to find that special someone. He wasn't looking that much, always helping her out, being the kind person that he was.

"What do you mean what about my life?" he asked her, now looking at her, muting the T.V.

"Well, when was the last time you went out to a bar, or dated?" she asked him.

"I don't need to date, I'm happy where I am in life," Darrin said.

"Darrin, come on, you don't seem to have much of a life outside my kids," she said. She felt Darrin stiffen and he moved, forcing Casey to take her head off his shoulder.

"You don't want me around?" he asked her quietly.

"That's not what I meant. I love having you around; you're a great role model for my kids. It's just that I want you to find someone and be happy with her," Casey explained.

Darrin took her hand, as he did often when they had a serious conversation. He looked down at her hand, and spoke to the floor. "You worry too much," he said, then glancing at her. "But if it will make you happy, I'll call up some of my single friends, not that there are much left, and go girlfriend shopping," he said.

Casey smiled. "That's great! Just remember look for one who has a big brain, not big boobs," she said sternly at him, making him laugh.

"I'll try, but my friends might have a different philosophy than you though," he said looking at his watch.

"Well how about a blind date? My friend Emily is single," she told him.

He was about to shake his head but he could never say no to Casey. "Sure, why not." Casey shrieked and giggled, clapping her hands together. She loved matchmaking.

"Well I should go, unless you need me to do anything else. I did the dishes for you while I waited," he said.

Casey smiled. "Bless you," she said, so happy that she didn't have to do the dishes tonight. "No I don't need anything. You go home and start planning a night out with your friends. I'll call Emily tomorrow and give her your number," she said.

He nodded, pecking her on the cheek before leaving.

Casey watched him drive away before she closed the door. She went to the kitchen and made the girls' lunch. She then cleaned a bit until it was late enough for it to be acceptable to go to bed and slip into sleep quickly. She liked to tire herself out so that she went to sleep quickly.

She did this because she hated the part of going to bed and waiting for sleep. This was when she would miss Derek the most, not having him there to hold her close as he did when they went to sleep. This was when Casey would lose it. This was when it looked like Casey would never make it out of bed. If it wasn't for her children, she wouldn't have the will to get up and face the day. Her children were asleep though, so she lay in bed by herself. She had good nights and bad nights. On her good nights, she went to sleep quickly, without a thought of being lonely. On her bad nights, like today, she began to cry, crying herself to sleep, or at least she thought.

"Mom..." Casey heard someone say to her. She looked up, seeing Ella standing at the end of her bed. "Are you alright?" she asked her.

Casey quickly sat up in her bed, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, but her voice cracked and it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that she was crying. Without another word, Ella climbed into bed beside her. They both lay down and Casey hugged her daughter, kissing her cheek before they drifted off to sleep. Yes, if it wasn't for her children, Casey would have never been able to get out of bed.

Reviews are always welcome


	3. Casey's Derek

a/n: sorry it took so long. I'll try to update faster.

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Casey's Derek

Casey had no idea that the next morning her life was going to change. She woke up from the sound of her alarm clock. She shut it off quickly, not wanting to disturb Ella because she didn't have to wake up for another hour and a half. She carefully moved her arm from under her daughter and got up. Her morning routine was no different from any other day. Her life didn't change until the time that Ella and Lily were having breakfast that the phone rang. Casey grabbed the phone on its second ring, a bit surprised that someone would call so early.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, watching her children at the kitchen table.

Lily was eating and helping Ben read the back of the cereal box, listening to him stutter over the words. Lily's reading was higher than average like her sister because they both loved to read. Ella was looking at Casey as she ate. She was still a bit concerned for her mother but Casey kept giving her a reassuring smile.

"Casey?" Casey recognized the voice instantly.

"Bree?" Casey said, starting to panic. She couldn't understand why Bree, the nurse that she talked to her everyday called her. Something must be terribly wrong. "What's wrong?" she asked, feeling tears in her eyes. She glanced at her children, seeing all of them now staring at her. Casey turned away, wondering how she was going to tell her children that their father is dead.

"Oh, nothing's wrong," Bree said quickly, not wanting Casey to panic. "It's Derek. I came to check on him like I do everyday when I get in and when I was checking on him, he started breathing on his own. Luckily, I was there or he could have chocked on the tube. Anyways, after I took the tube out, his eyes miraculously opened, and Casey, he's awake. Derek's awake!" she said all in one breath.

Casey had to grab onto the counter or she would have fallen. "He's awake?" she asked her, just to be sure she heard her right.

"Ya!" Bree shouted into the phone. "Dr. Johnson is checking on him right now," she said.

"I'm coming, I'm on my way," Casey said hanging up the phone. She turned to her children with a smile on her face.

"You're daddy's awake, he's no longer sleeping," Casey explained to them.

No child said anything. Their father, who they saw once a week, was always asleep. Lily and Ella had very little memory of him awake and Ben had no memory of him at all. They didn't know what to say to that. What would their father do now that he was awake? Lily looked at the time over the stove.

"Mom, we're going to be late for school," she said to her.

"Oh, um, do you want to go to school and see your daddy later?" Casey asked them. She didn't want to spook them. They all nodded and Casey dialled Sam's number. She told him that Derek was awake and a couple minutes later, Sabrina and Sam were at her house. Sabrina planned to take Casey's kids to school while Sam would go with Casey to the hospital. Sabrina was also going to call Casey's family, to let them know.

"How do I look?" Casey asked when Sam parked into the hospital parking lot. She was smoothing out her hair because she wanted to look her best.

"You look fine Casey. He's just going to be happy to see you, don't worry," Sam said as they got out.

He took Casey's hand, squeezing it as they walked into the hospital. They didn't say anything in the elevator. When they walked out onto the coma floor, Bree looked at them and tapped Dr. Johnson's shoulder because he was waiting for them. Casey began to grow impatient. She didn't want to talk to him, she wanted to talk to Derek.

"Doctor," she said. She expected to see a smile on his face since one of his patients woke up but he seemed to have an expressionless face.

"Casey, I need to talk to you before you see Derek," he said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Casey asked, getting really worried. Sam squeezed her hand harder.

"Well, Derek is awake, which is good. We aren't sure how he woke up but he's awake and he physically healthy." He paused, not sure how to tell Casey the bad news.

"What do you mean physically? What about mentally?" she asked him. "How much brain damage? Can he speak? Read or write?" she asked him. She was prepared for the worst. If Derek needed to be re-taught everything, she would be there every step of the way, helping him.

"Derek can speak, read and write, and understand what I'm saying but, well…"

"Please doc, just say it, the suspense is killing us," Sam interfered.

"Derek appears to have memory loss. We discovered this when we told him that he had been in a coma for five years and he said 'so that make me twenty-three' when in fact he is in his thirty-three. Derek seems to only remember up to his eighteen year. The day of his graduation is the last memory he has," he said.

Casey let go of Sam's hand and covered her mouth. "Oh no," was all she could say.

"Will he get his memory back?" Sam asked for Casey.

"We believe so. An hour ago, he could only tell us the colour of his robe he wore at his high school graduation but now he remembers where it was and who the valedictorian was. It might be slow, it could take months or years but I'm sure he will remember all of his memories someday.

"Oh, God," Casey said.

Sam looked at her as if she was crazy. "Casey, everything is going to be fine. The doc said he would make a full recovery. It'll just take some time," he said.

Casey looked at him. "Sam you don't understand, don't you remember what happened after graduation day. Clara, his first long time girlfriend, the one he dated for a year dumped him. He doesn't remember that, he doesn't remember how we got together. For all he knows, I'm just the annoying stepsister," Casey explained.

"Derek understands that he lost some of his memories, that he isn't twenty-three but thirty-three. I'm sure if you tell him slowly-" Dr. Johnson tried to say.

"You don't know eighteen year old Derek. He has a temper. He was barely calm when he was eighteen," Casey said. Sam then realized why Casey was upset. Eighteen-year-old Derek had a massive temper.

"Most patients who have memory loss will mature when they get their memory back. In fact, their personality might come before his memory," Dr. Johnson said, trying to keep Casey's hopes up.

"Can we see him, please," Casey asked. Dr. Johnson stepped aside. Bree came up to her.

"I'll explain the situation to your family when they arrive, don't worry," Bree said to her, knowing that Casey wouldn't want to explain it over and over again. Casey gave her a weak smile and then opened the door to Derek's room.

She first saw Derek's head when she walked in. He was sitting up, looking at the windowsill, at all the pictures that her kids, Lizzie's kids, Edwin's kids and Marti's kid made for him. Derek turned his head and smiled when he saw Casey and Sam walk in. Seeing Derek smile made Casey want to cry.

"Hey, long time no see," Derek said.

Sam closed the door behind him and then went to give him a hug. Casey slowly walked towards them, sitting in the chair that she had everyday. "Hey, why the long face Casey, aren't you happy to see me?" Derek asked jokily.

She was very cautious, remembering what place Derek was in when he was eighteen. She looked up, playing with her wedding ring. She nodded her head and a few tears fell down her cheeks. "Hey, don't cry, you know how much I hate seeing a girl cry," he said, panic in his eyes. Casey nodded again, wiping her cheeks dry.

"It's good to see you awake," Casey said, squeezing his hand. Derek squeezed back, which made Casey smile.

"So the doc said that I can only remember till I was eighteen and that I'm thirty-three. So I assume I missed stuff, so tell me," he said. He then saw Casey's ring finger on her left hand. "Hey, you're married. Who's the poor bastard?" he teased. He then saw Sam's hand, having a wedding ring too. "Hey, are you two…"

"No man. My heart belongs to a woman named Sabrina. We have two kids, Adam who is five and Liza who just-"

"Turned eight," Derek finished. Sam gave him a weird look. "Ya, I know that for some reason. I don't know why. The doctor said that I might remember things that people told me when I was sleeping. Weird huh," he said. Sam nodded. Derek than turned to Casey.

"So do you have kids?" he asked her.

Casey nodded, trying hard to hold back the tears when she looked at him. He was so cheerful, like he always was when they were together. She wondered if her Derek was still in there. "I have two twin nine year old daughters. Their names are Lillian and Eleanor but everyone calls them Lily and Ella-"

"They dance. Ella likes ballet. She can't wait till she gets pointe shoes. Lily likes ballet too but jazz better. She also does cross-country," Derek finished for her. "Weird huh. I don't even remember meeting them but you must have told me about them," he said to her. It pained Casey to hear that he couldn't remember his own daughters. She was glad that she didn't bring her children to the hospital.

"Ya, that's right," Casey said, trying to smile. "I also have a five-year-old son. His name is Benjamin but everyone-"

"Calls him Ben," Derek stated. "Did you know that Sam and I had a friend in elementary school named Ben. We were really close to him but he died from cancer in grade 5. I always wanted to name my first son Ben. Well I guess you beat me to the punch. We can't have two Bens in the family," Derek said.

He saw Casey and Sam glance at each other for a brief second before they looked away. He knew that look. Both their faces screamed that they had a secret that he wasn't in on. He decided to not mention it, hoping that they would tell him themselves. "So who did you marry Casey? You never did tell me," he said.

He saw Casey and Sam both look at each other again before Casey turned to him. She took his hand, holding it between her own, looking up at him. "Um Derek, I married, well, um…" Casey stuttered.

"Casey just spit it out already!" he said.

"You. I married you," Casey said slowly. "My children are your children, we're married," she said again. Derek looked at her before he started laughing.

"Good one Casey!" he said, still chuckling. "Way to play a joke on the coma guy," he said. He stopped laughing though when he looked at Sam and Casey's faces. "Wait," he said ripping his hand out of Casey's grasp. "We can't be married," he said. "For one we hate each other but for a more important reason, I love Clara. I want to marry her someday. We've planned out our whole life."

"Derek, I…"

"No!" Derek screamed at Casey. "We are not married! I love Clara! I want Clara! Make yourself useful and get Clara!" he yelled at her. Casey couldn't keep back the tears that were coming down her face. She got up quickly and ran out of the room.

"Casey!" Sam called after her. "Nice Derek," he said as he chased her. When he left the room, he saw Lizzie and Marti step out of the elevator. They gave him a confused look. Sam looked at Bree and she nodded to him.

"I'll explain, you go after her," she said, probably because she heard what Derek yelled. Well who didn't. He bet the whole floor heard Derek scream at Casey.

As he ran to find Casey, he couldn't believe that Derek was so insensitive. Yes, he did have a mind of an eighteen-year-old, literally, but how selfish he was shocked him. He then remembered that Derek was always like this. He only changed when he started dating Casey. Sam found Casey in another coma patient's room. Casey became friends with many of the people and she knew who would be visiting at the moment and who wouldn't.

She was in a patient's room that fell off her horse, slipped into a coma, and had been asleep for six months. He saw Casey crying in a corner and Sam slowly walked to her.

"Just go away," she said when he crouched down to her level. She seemed to be clutching her hand to her heart, as if she had to hold it there to keep herself together. If she let go, she would fall to pieces.

"Casey, he didn't mean it," Sam said trying to sooth her. Casey glared at him.

"Of course he meant it. Sam, he doesn't remember. He doesn't remember anything about our life. That isn't my Derek in there, that's Clara's Derek in there. I've been visiting him everyday for five years, been loving him for longer, is it so much to ask just to get my Derek back? The one who loved me," she asked him.

"No, it's not a lot to ask," he said, sitting next to her, allowing Casey to cry into his chest. He would have called Sabrina to help Casey because he felt uncomfortable, not knowing what to say or do to make Casey happy. That's all he and Sabrina wanted for her, for her to be happy, but she won't be able, not until Derek comes back to her.

As Casey cried, Sam looked at the sleeping patient. She looked only about eighteen at the most. He noticed that she was very pretty, and would probably be someone eighteen-year-old Derek would have wanted to go out with. He then saw the hospital phone by the bed. He wished with all of his might that he would get telepathic powers and the phone would come to him so that he could call Sabrina. Casey looked at him, seeing Sam's gaze at the phone.

"Sorry, I'm probably making you uncomfortable," she said, wiping her tears off her face.

"It's okay, I just think Sabrina is better at comforting you," he said.

"Ya, she's always good at that, buying comfort food and everything," Casey replied. She remembered whenever it was a special occasion that involved Derek like his birthday or their anniversary, Sabrina and Anna were always there, ready to spend the day to wallow with her. Over the years, she spent less of her time wallowing though. It was easy to suppress her heartache rather than embrace it.

"Oh, we should go back," Casey told him, thinking that Sam probably wanted to spend time with Derek instead of trying to clean up her mess.

"If you're ready," he told her.

Casey got up, nodding her head. He then put his arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her as they walked to the door. Before they left though, Casey took the coma patient's hand. "Bye Amanda. May you wake up earlier than Derek did and remember those who love you," she whispered.

Sam and Casey walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached Derek's room, they heard laughter inside. Before Sam could say anything, Casey opened the door, walked in, and closed it behind her and Sam. Once inside, she saw that her siblings, George, and Nora had arrived. All of her siblings were childless and spouseless, probably wanting to see Derek first on their own.

Everyone looked at Sam and Casey when they came in. No one question Casey about her tear-stained face. Derek did feel a bit guilty but he couldn't believe that he married his annoying stepsister. He looked at Nora's face and she seemed about to ask Casey about her strange behaviour since she didn't move from her spot by the door. He attempted to stop her though because he didn't want to get in trouble.

"So Marti, what's your kid's name?" he asked her, still trying to get over the shock that Marti was married and a mother. He still thought of her as the hyperactive twelve-year-old because that was his last memory of her.

Marti smiled. "I named him after you. My husband let me because we didn't think…" Marti trailed off, unable to continue. She steered the conversation the wrong way.

"You didn't think what?" he asked her, well more like demanded.

This reminded Nora of when she was so happy he grew out of his teenage faze. His temper was terrible, especially when he was eighteen. Now this Derek was back and she wasn't sure how everyone was suppose to handle this, especially Casey.

"We all thought that you wouldn't wake up. The doctors said that it was a very low chance that you would," Edwin told him.

"Oh so I guess you were going to pull the plug soon," Derek said glancing at Casey. Casey just stared at the floor, unable to look at him. Derek took this the wrong way though, he thought she was feeling guilty. "So when were you going to do it?" he asked Casey. "When!" he shouted since he didn't get an answer which caused everyone to cringe away from him.

"Derek calm down," George instructed quietly.

"I will not calm down! Not until I hear from my dear _wife_," he said, making a face, "when she planned to kill me. That's probably why she married me, waiting for this situation so that she could kill me," Derek said, glaring at Casey. He did not realize how insane he sounded.

"She was never going to kill you, you jerk!" Sam shouted at Derek. "We all asked her to, to end her misery of coming here everyday and talking to you like you would respond! But she didn't! She was determined that you would come back to us, but she never thought you would come back as the eighteen-year-old scum you are!" he continued to shout.

There was a pause in the room because no one knew what to say next, especially Derek. The Sam that he knew would never have the balls to do this. This made him angry. He knew that Sam had gotten older, had a life while he was stuck like this. All he wanted to do was find Clara because she would make it better.

"Oh, nice sticking up for your girlfriend, I guess your wife isn't enough for you," Derek said. He wasn't sure where this was coming from but he was angry at Sam and he wanted to hurt him. How could Sam let him marry Casey when he was in love with Clara?

Derek expected Sam to back down, just walk away like the coward he knew he was but he was surprised when Sam lunged at him as he heard shrieks around him. Casey was faster though and she jumped in front of him. The punch that Sam tried to swing at him was interfered with Casey's face. Casey's body lost balance and fell on top of him but she was already up before Derek or anyone else could react, still protecting him.

"Casey are you alright, let me see," Nora said, trying to pull Casey's hand away from her face. Bree came in, hearing the commotion. Casey didn't say anything to Nora though.

"Sam, outside, NOW!" Casey said to him, pointing to the door. Sam, shocked that he had just punched his friend and tried to punch his best friend, stormed outside, still making fists with his hands. He didn't look back, afraid that he would lunged at Derek again. Casey turned to Derek, making sure he was alright before she followed Sam. "Stay," she said to her family. "I need to talk to Sam on my own," she continued as she left the room.

Bree met her at the door, handing Casey an ice pack. Casey grabbed it, holding it to her face. She knew her jaw wasn't broken, knowing what a broken bone felt like since she was such a klutz. Once she was outside, she saw Sam pacing before he punched the wall hard.

"Hey, do I have to call security?" Bree asked.

"No, that isn't necessary. He just needs to calm down," Casey told Bree.

"Casey, I'm so sorry," Sam said, looking at the ice pack that Casey was pressing to her jaw.

"It's okay," she tried to comfort him.

"No it isn't. Damn it Casey, why did you have to get in the way like that!" he asked her.

"I couldn't let you hurt him," Casey said quietly, looking at the floor.

"Yes you could have! After the things he said!"

"Sam, you have to remember that this is eighteen-year-old Derek, the one that has an enormous temper. It isn't his fault."

"Yes it is! It is Casey! Can't you see? It came from his mouth! Just thinking about it makes me want to punch him again!"

"Then maybe you should go," Casey said sternly.

"I'm not letting that bastard speak to you without me there for backup," Sam said.

"What are you going to do? Try to punch him again? I can guarantee that I will jump in front of him again. Sabrina would do the same thing for you."

Sam then pressed his hand to his forehead. "Damn it! Sabrina is never going to forgive me for punching one of her best friends!"

Casey walked over to him, resting her hand on his shoulder, now trying to comfort him. Their roles switched in the matter of minutes. "Don't worry, I'll talk to her. Now I suggest you leave," she said to him.

"Just a second," Sam said walking around her to get back into Derek's room. Casey followed behind him, trying to pull him out of the room. "I'm not going to hurt him," Sam reassured her as he fought against her to walk in.

Since he was stronger than her, he won, making it to Derek's bed but Casey still held his right hand, knowing that he would have to let go of it if he wanted to punch him. No one said anything. Derek's family was just shocked at what they were seeing.

"If you ever," Sam threatened, pointing his finger in Derek's face, "talk about my wife or Casey that way again, I guarantee you will end up in the hospital because the next time my fist aims at you, I'll make sure your wife isn't in my way," Sam said turning around. Casey followed him out, making sure that he didn't decide to punch Derek again. When Sam walked out, he saw two police officers talking to Bree.

"Oh come on, you called the cops?" Sam asked her. "I didn't mean to punch Casey."

Casey stood beside him, knowing that she had to straighten this out since it was her fault to begin with. She should have stopped Sam before he lunged.

"No, it's not about you, although you shouldn't be trying to punch anyone," Bree said. The cops looked at Sam then at the ice pack that Casey was pressing to her jaw.

"Miss, did he hurt you?" one of the cops asked her.

"No, I fell. Klutzilla, you know," she laughed. Sam winced at what Casey said, remembering that teenage Derek made that up for her.

The cops looked at her like they didn't believe her. It was really unlikely that she fell and hurt her jaw like that. Before they could ask her again, Casey spoke.

"So why are you two here?" she asked them.

"They want to ask Derek questions about the day..." Bree said, trying to find the right words to end that sentence.

"The day he was shot," Casey finished for her. "Ya, sure. We have family in there now but you can go in. I don't think he will remember anything though. He can only remember up to the day of his high school graduation," Casey told them. "But you can try," she said to them. She then turned to Sam. "Sam, go home. Tell Sabrina about the situation and call Anna and Darrin too. They would want to know. Oh shit!" Casey said hitting her head.

"What?" Sam asked her, concern and worry appeared in his face.

"I have to phone Emily. I'm going to have her go on a blind date with Darrin," she told him. Sam shook his head, Casey was still Casey, putting everyone else in front of herself.

"Call her later. I'm sure she and Darrin will understand," he said, kissing her right cheek before he left.

"This way gentlemen," Casey said to the cops once Sam got into the elevator. She led them to Derek's room, going in first, explaining to everyone why these officers were here.

"So Derek, do you remember anything about that day?" the officers asked him again.

Derek shook his head. He hated feeling like he was being interrogated as he answered the same questions repeatedly. "I can't remember the day after my graduation, much less what happened ten years after that," Derek said calmly. After seeing Sam lunge at him and Casey protecting him, he was too confused to get angry again.

"Well, here is my card, call if you remember anything," one of the officers said.

Derek nodded taking the card but he didn't know where to put it. Casey took it from his hand, putting it in her purse. This was the first time he looked at Casey after Sam left, and he saw her still holding the ice pack to her cheek even though she told everyone that it barely hurt. Casey kept her distance from him and he felt a wave of guilt seeing her physically hurt because of what he said.

No one said anything when the officers were here and when they left, no one knew what to say. Everyone looked at different places, not wanting to be the first to break the silence.

"Um, can I talk to Casey privately?" Derek asked. Everyone looked at him then at Casey.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nora said. She didn't want to see her daughter hurt.

"I'll be fine. Besides, don't all of you have to get back to work?" Casey asked them.

All of them grumbled, feeling like reality was setting in. They all left, giving Derek and Casey both a hug. Lizzie was the last one to leave, giving Casey a hug and telling her she would be right outside in a low voice that Derek was unable to hear. Casey nodded and waited until she closed the door before she looked at Derek.

"Come here," he commanded.

Casey slowly walked to him, standing about a foot from the bed.

"Sit here," he said, tapping the bed. Casey sat down beside him, slowly, afraid at what he might do. "Let me see," he instructed, pointing to the ice pack, he was trying to touch her as little as possible.

Casey slowly pulled the ice pack away from her jaw and turned it to Derek.

"Well, it's not as bad as I thought," Derek said. "I guess Sam is still a bit of a coward."

"Did you ever think that maybe he just didn't want to hit you as hard as he could," she said, putting the ice pack back on her jaw.

Seeing this, suddenly Derek remembered something that he didn't know before.

_Derek was in a bedroom. He heard loud music coming from downstairs. He was at some house party._

"_Stay away from her!" Derek shouted at a guy, pushing him._

"_What made this any of your business?" the guy yelled, pushing him back._

"_She's my stepsister, her business is my business!" he shouted. "Casey, let's go!" he said, pulling her off the bed. She had tears in her eyes and was clutching her ripped shirt to her chest. _

"_Oh, no, you're not taking my fun time away from me!" the guy shouted, grabbing Casey. _

"_Get your hands off her!" Derek screamed back, dragging Casey behind him._

_It was then that Casey and Derek both saw the guy yanking his fist back, ready to punch Derek._

"_No!" Casey cried, stepping in front of Derek just in time to take the hit._

_Derek didn't waste time. He punched the guy, then picked up Casey and carried her downstairs, past the girl that he was flirting with before and out of the house, walking to his car. He put her in the passenger seat, climbed into the driver's side then drove away. He didn't go far, stopping at the next street over._

"_You okay?" he asked her, touching Casey's face with his hand, slowly moving it so that she was looking at him. He was examining her face._

"_Ya fine," she said as she shivered. Derek quickly took off his jacket and put it on her shoulders. "Thanks," she said, pulling the jacket around herself. "And I'm sorry about early," she said, a tear slipping down her cheek. _

"_It's okay," Derek said, wiping the tear off her face._

"_And thank you for coming to my rescue. I don't know what would have happened if…" Casey couldn't go on, her voice was cracking just thinking about how her shirt was torn._

"_Don't mention it. Really, I mean it. It might ruin my tough guy rep," he said. Casey laughed while rolling her eyes._

"_Only you would still worry about your rep," she said._

Derek stared at Casey. "You were almost raped," he said suddenly.

"What?" Casey asked, confused at what he said.

"We were at some party, I heard you scream and I ran in, seeing a guy on top of you as you were fighting to get free. I pulled him off and when he tried to punch me, you stepped in, taking the hit for me," Derek told her.

"Derek, that was years ago. That party was in our first year of university," she explained.

"Why did you do it?" he questioned.

"Do what?" she asked him.

"Stepped in to block the punch. Then and today, why?" he clarified.

"Oh," Casey said looking down. "You were going to get hurt because of me, so I wanted to protect you. Reflex I guess," she explained.

Derek nodded. "Do you think Sam will ever forgive me?" Derek asked her. He was very serious now. He never really fought with Sam until today.

"If you act like this," she said reaching for his hand. For a moment, she realized that this was her Derek. He was slowly coming back. Derek pulled his hand away though before she could touch him.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not getting any feelings for you Casey. I still love Clara," he said softly, unaware on how much this was hurting her. Casey nodded, trying to control her voice before she spoke again.

"It's almost lunch time, I'm sure you will want to eat in peace," she said getting up.

"Hey Casey," Derek called as she opened the door.

"Ya?" she asked him, turning to look in his opened eyes that she missed so much.

"Please don't bring your kids here just yet. I don't think I'm ready for seeing that responsibility," he said. Casey nodded, leaving without another word.

When she walked out, she saw Lizzie sitting in a chair and beside her was Darrin.

"Hey," Darrin said, getting up. "How is he?"

"Fine, as physically healthy as he can be. He is slowly getting his memories. He remembered a party that we went to when we were in university," she told them cheerfully. They both didn't know that Casey was extra excited that Derek remembered that specific party.

"Does he remember anything about the day he was shot?" Darrin asked. He already asked Lizzie but he wanted to hear it from Casey.

Casey shook her head and Darrin blew out a breath and came beside her, giving her a side hug. "I know it's hard but we'll get through this," he told her. Casey nodded, feeling a new wave of tears coming down her face.

Reviews are always welcome


	4. Casey's Kids

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: Casey's Kids  
Derek woke up the next day, surprised because he couldn't remember at first where he was. Once he realized, his memories of everything that happened yesterday came floating back. He remembered that when he woke up the nurse had explained to him about how he ended up here and then told him the doctor would give him more details. He was frustrated when he found out that he couldn't remember part of his life. He wanted to know what his life was like, and more importantly, where Clara was. He didn't care that he was married to Casey. He was sure he could straighten it out and be with Clara.

He didn't think about that so much today because once he opened his eyes, he saw two women in the room with him. Both were looking at the pictures on his windowsill. He remembered doing the same thing yesterday. Some were drawings from children he didn't know and others were photographs. Some he recognized but most he didn't.

He didn't look at the pictures today though. He just stared at the two women. One was about average height, straight, long, blonde hair and the other was taller with curly, short, dark brown hair. Derek with his well-trained eye saw immediately that they both had fit bodies, and assumed that they did some form of exercise to get the bodies they had.

They both turned when Derek made a sound. This gave him a chance to look at their faces. He noticed that they were both beautiful, not overly beautiful but not average looking either. He wondered why they were in his room but he got his answer quickly.

"Oh good, you're up," the blonde said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Derek realized that both women's expression looked like they were peeved and he became angry. Who were they to be hostile at him? He had only been awake for a day now.

"You don't know who we are, do you?" the brunette asked. "See I told you," she looked at the blonde.

"I don't care, we still have to tell him how we feel," the blonde told her.

"Oh no! I don't know who you two are, but I hate talking about feelings so don't you even dare Blondie," Derek said getting angry.

"Blondie? Did he just call me Blondie?" the woman asked the other.

"Calm down. Just remember why we're here," the brunette said to her.

"Right," the blonde said, now looking at Derek. "Hi," she said with fake enthusiasm in her voice. "This is Anna," she said pointing to the brunette. "And I'm Sabrina, Sam's wife. We're co-owners of the dance studio with Casey, who is also our best friend."

"We're your friends too," Anna butt in, plopping down in the chair beside the bed. "You just don't remember. We met in university the first year. We saw each other often," Anna explained.

Derek looked at the two women. He hoped that something would ignite his memory to remember these two but nothing clicked.

"I'm sorry but I don't remember you," he said. This gave him a new wave of frustration.

"No, worries, that's not why we're here. Well, not the main reason," Anna said.

"I hope you remember yesterday's confrontation with my husband and Casey because we are going to talk about that," Sabrina said.

Derek was about to say that he didn't remember just to get these two women off his back. He assumed that these women who were friends with Casey were as annoying and whiny as she is. He didn't get a chance to speak though.

"If you don't remember, let me refresh your memory," Sabrina continued.

"You implied that my husband was cheating on me with Casey. Then when Sam tried to punch you for disgracing my name as well as Casey's, she stepped in the way and Sam ended up hitting her."

"Not cool man," Anna added.

Derek took what he thought back, Anna seemed to be cool, cooler than Casey. He wondered if he was friends with Anna first and that she was more loyal to him than Casey.

"So we're here to tell you that we met you when you were eighteen but this was when you were in a slump. We didn't meet hot-tempered Derek. So… we are friends with the Derek who married Casey, not the jackass you were when you were eighteen," Sabrina continued.

"Yeah, and the next time you insult one of my friends, Sam won't make it in time to punch you first because I will personally do it," Anna told him. Derek realized that he had no such luck: Anna was not loyal to him, but to Casey.

"Why are you guy so worried about Casey?" he asked them. "I'm the one that was in a coma." Both Anna and Sabrina changed their expression from angry to worried and nervous. Derek wouldn't have thought anything of it but their expressions trigged a memory.

_"Yeah, so I'm here on a hockey scholarship, can't get these muscles by just lying on the couch," Derek said, flirting with a girl. Derek recognized that he was again at the party that Casey was almost raped. Only, he was downstairs in the living room instead of upstairs. The girl giggled but they were interrupted by someone touching his shoulder, causing him to turn to look at them._

_"Derek," Anna said when he looked at her, "do you know where Casey is?"_

_"Why?" he asked, getting angry. He didn't want to hear that name._

_"We can't find her and well, we're afraid," Sabrina said._

_She was standing beside Anna. Sam was behind her, holding her waist. Derek looked at all of their faces and saw real concern in them. He wouldn't have given much thought of it if Sabrina and Sam had just approached him but when Anna was worried - it was serious._

_"No I haven't seen her but she has to be around here somewhere. Sam, Sabrina, take the basement. Anna, take the main floor, I'll look upstairs."_

_He did it this way because he didn't want to run into Casey and he was positive that Casey wouldn't be upstairs. She would never have sex at a party. She was certainly not that type of girl. He wasn't even sure if she ever had sex at all._

_Everyone nodded and started looking for Casey. Derek turned to the girl that he was talking to. She looked a bit upset, probably because he wasn't paying enough attention to her._

_"Sorry, duty calls," he said walking towards the stairs._

_Derek slowly climbed up the stairs. He wasn't looking forward to interrupting the happy couples who were behind the closed bedroom doors. When he was almost at the top of the stairs, he heard a scream that he could only hear. The scream was loud but the music had drowned it out, making it impossible for anyone that wasn't on the top floor to hear._

_Derek ran the rest of the way towards the scream. For some reason he knew it was Casey on the other side, logic was on his side too. Anna, Sabrina, and Casey always stayed within visual range of each other, in case one needed help. He tried to open the door but it was locked. Without even thinking, Derek put his foot to the door, pressing on it with all the force he had and kicked the door down._

_What he saw on the other side made him positively murderous. There on the bed, was Jared on top of Casey as she was desperately trying to fight him off. He didn't seem to have heard the intrusion until Derek shoved him off of Casey._

Derek blinked a couple of times, focusing his eyes at the reality around him. He had no idea who Jared was or why he had been angry with Casey. It was like watching TV.

Anna and Sabrina stared at him. "Derek, are you alright?" Anna asked slowly.

Derek nodded. "Yeah, fine. Listen, I'm sorry about what I said to Sam, it won't happen again. As for Casey though, you need to know that I'm still in love with Clara," he told them.

Derek saw both women about to open their mouths but neither got a chance to say anything because a man that reminded Derek of a bear, due to possessing the body of a weightlifter, came into the room.

"She's coming," he said, closing the door behind him and running to Anna's side.

Sabrina quickly changed the subject, having a fake smile plastered on her face. "Yes, I'm Sam's wife and this is Anna, and her boyfriend Jason," she said.

"You won't remember Jason though, we just started dating," Anna quickly added as the door opened and Casey walked in, followed by Sam.

Once the door opened, both Sabrina and Anna laughed and Jason joined in once Anna nudged him in the ribs. They all turned to look at Casey and Sam, as if they had no idea that they arrived. Anna and Sabrina didn't want either to know that they came to yell at Derek on their behalf. Casey would disapprove immensely and Sam didn't even want Sabrina to see Derek.

Casey gave Anna and Sabrina a weird look as Sam just stared at Sabrina. He told her yesterday that she was not allowed to see Derek and he explained why. He thought he was clear but apparently, Sabrina didn't care about what Sam said.

Sabrina was actually hoping that if anyone caught them, it would just be Casey, but she figured that she should have realized that Sam would go with her. After what happened yesterday, she was surprised that Sam didn't also order Casey to stay away from Derek.

"Oh hey," Anna said after a brief pause of silence. "We just wanted Derek to meet us. Well, we did. It was good talking to you, see you later Casey," Anna said quickly, pulling Jason out the door with her.

Sabrina tried to follow her lead. "Well that was my ride and I have to do things before I pick up Adam-"

"Stay," Sam ordered, interrupting her. "I'll give you a ride in a second. I have to get back to the store anyways."

Sabrina just nodded. She was hoping that she could have prolonged the argument she was bound to have with Sam. She knew that he just wanted to protect her, but she didn't need protection from Derek. The only one who did was Casey.

Sam then looked at Derek. "Well I see that you've met my wife," Sam said to him.

"Listen Sam, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was stupid," Derek replied.

Sam paused for a brief moment. Eighteen-year-old Derek never apologized. He was now starting to understand what Casey had said about how Derek's mature emotions were coming to Derek faster than his memories.

"It's alright," he said to him. Derek held up his fist, Sam lightly punched it, and both men smiled.

"So Derek, do you remembered anything else since yesterday?" Casey asked him.

Derek glared at her. "No," he snapped, angry at her assumption. It felt like she was nagging at him and he couldn't believe that he married 'Casey the whiner.'

Casey flinched at the complete one-eighty in his mood swing. This was exactly like him at eighteen. She remembered walking on eggshells around him, as did the rest of their family. They had no idea what would set him off and when he did, they hated being around him. Casey knew that only his memories would bring him out of this and she would just had to wait.

"She was just asking," Sam said, his anger starting to build also.

Casey then glared at Sam. She had talked to him yesterday, telling him that he had to remain calm and stay Derek's friend no matter what. Derek needed them. Sam then relaxed. "Sorry," he mumbled to Casey.

Casey then smiled, looking back at Derek. "That's alright. I'm sure your memories will come back in no time."

"Whatever," Derek brushed her off.

Sam ground his teeth and Sabrina bit her lip. Casey had talked to all of them. She told them that just because Derek was an angry teenager; it didn't give any of them the right to become one too.

Bree then came in, sensing the thick tension in the room. "Hey Derek, here's your breakfast," she said cheerily, trying to brighten up the mood. Casey smiled back at her and allowed her to pass, setting the tray of food on the table. Derek looked at the food  
in disgust.

"When do I get to go home?" he asked her.

"It depends how fast you recover. You have been sleeping in a bed for five years so it'll take some time for your body to recover," Bree told him.

He groaned and Casey touched his hand. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time and I'll be here every step of the way," Casey tried to reassure him. Derek quickly ripped his hand out of Casey's and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said again.

Casey quickly hid the hurt from her face but everyone except Derek noticed it.

"Casey, we should go. You have to pick up Ben soon," Sam said to her.

Casey looked at Sabrina. "Can you pick him up today? I promise it will be the last time."

Sabrina nodded and Derek grunted. "Go pick up your kid. The only person I want here anyways is Clara."

"Bree needs help," Casey said.

Everyone looked at Bree and she nodded. "Yeah, I need help, and who better than your wife to help me."

Derek groaned again. "Please do not call her that!"

"She's sorry. No one will call me that," Casey quickly said, hoping to calm Derek down. She then looked at Sam and Sabrina. "Go, I'll be fine."

They both stayed where they were. She then rolled her eyes. "Darrin's coming soon," she told them. As if on cue, Darrin walked into the room.

"Hey," he said, strolling up to Casey and kissing her bruised cheek. "I'm Darrin." He put his hand forward, waiting for Derek to shake it. After a couple seconds of Derek just staring at the hand, he dropped it to his side.

"I'll see you guys later," Casey said to Sam and Sabrina, hinting for them to leave.

"See ya," Sabrina said, hugging Casey and touching Darrin's shoulder. Sam didn't say anything. He just nodded to Derek once, then took Sabrina's hand, pulling her out of the room.

No one said anything for a few beats and Darrin instinctively grabbed Casey's hand. He had done this many times when he felt Casey needed support. He figured that she needed support now, seeing Derek's hostile appearance. Derek saw the gesture and became even angrier than he was before.

"So you have a lot of guy friends. Was it lonely when I was here? I was almost dead so you decided to cheat on me?" Derek asked Casey casually like he just asked her about the weather.

"Derek, I never cheated on you," Casey said calmly. Darrin didn't say anything. After all, what could he say when Derek had just implied that he did it with Casey. "Can I have a minute alone with him," Casey asked Darrin and Bree.

"No," Derek said before Darrin or Bree could say anything.

"Sure, I need help carrying something in anyways. Darrin," Bree said, ignoring Derek's reply.

Darrin just nodded, at a loss because he didn't want to leave Casey alone with Derek but he couldn't say no to Casey. They both walked out and Casey shut the door behind them. She then sighed and turned, looking at Derek. Derek recognized that look, and for once he recognized Casey's emotion: anger.

"You need to stop this," she whispered harshly.

"Stop what? Showing my feelings?" he asked her. He wasn't yelling but it wasn't exactly a normal voice either.

"You can't just keep saying stuff like this to our friends. You can yell at me all you want but you have to stop being rude to Darrin, Anna, Sam, and Sabrina. They don't have to stay and wait for you until you get your memory back, but they are and you're driving them away. So stop," she said.

"Fine, I won't tell them how I feel, happy?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied, opening the door, signalling to Bree and Darrin that she was done.

---

Darrin and Casey stayed with Derek the rest of the day. They tried to help him with his memories and like Casey asked, Derek was polite to Darrin but rude to her. Before Casey left, she asked Derek if he would like to meet his kids. He screamed a 'no' and Casey left quickly, telling him that she would be there tomorrow. He muttered 'don't bother' but Casey ignored it.

Darrin and Casey got into the elevator in complete silence. He didn't speak until the door was closed.

"You're not honestly going to bring Lily, Ella, and Ben to meet him, are you?" he asked her.

"Not tomorrow," she joked looking at the elevator's closed doors. She didn't want to turn and meet his gaze.

"I was hoping for 'not ever'," Darrin admitted. Casey then turned to him. She couldn't hide the surprise in her eyes.

"That isn't Derek their father," Casey said. "That's teenage Derek, the one who had an anger management problem."

"Yeah, I remember you told me about that. I still can't believe that he acted like that."

"That's because you met him a couple months after Clara dumped him. He was depressed at that time. He only got angry at me then," she said, walking out of the elevator towards her car. She unlocked it and was about to open the door but Darrin closed it. He had her trapped her by stretching out his arms, placing his hands on the car on either side of her head.

"It doesn't matter. I don't want you or your kids near him. All he's doing is causing you pain."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Did you and Sam have talk a yesterday? He banned me from seeing Derek too. I'll tell you what I told him, I'm seeing him. You don't have to, that's your choice but I'm sticking with Derek."

Darrin sighed and dropped his arms. "Fine. Just remember that I'm always here if you need me," he told her.

"Did Emily call you yet?" Casey asked trying to change the subject. She was afraid Darrin was going to tell her that he didn't want to see Derek again.

"Yeah, we have a date tonight."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Casey said clapping her hands together. "You have to tell me tomorrow how it went!"

Darrin laughed. "Alright, I will but don't be disappointed if it doesn't go well," he warned her.

"Scouts' honour," she said before opening her car door.

"Talk to you later," he replied, walking to his own vehicle.

---

The next few weeks were hell for Casey, although she would never admit it. Yet everyone else figured Casey was going through hell. Casey though, had been through hell these past few years and when Derek woke up, she felt like she finally got out. She wasn't about to complain at this second chance.

Casey went everyday to the hospital. She spent the morning with Derek before she had to pick up Ben. Derek still insisted that he didn't want to see his kids, although he met all of his nieces and nephews and Sabrina and Sam's kids. She saw an improvement with Derek. Although he would snap at her most of the time, still resenting her because he wasn't married to Clara, there were moments that he was pleasant.

He remembered some things about his life but Casey noticed that his memories didn't come back in order. Derek could remember some of the courses he took in university, the professors, and working at the store that he and Sam started but he never remembered anything to do with being with Casey, or how he and Clara broke up. Casey was hoping he would remember more about the night they went to the party but he always told her no when she asked him about it. She didn't want to mention why it was important because she was afraid that he would get angry at her. She just had to wait until he remembered.

Casey was getting excited though. It had been more than a few weeks and the doctor said that Derek was recovering faster and faster everyday. She was told that he could come home soon and Casey made the necessary arrangements at her house to give Derek space. She planned to sleep on the couch and she moved most of her stuff out of the master bedroom into Lily's and Ella's rooms.

---

It was now Wednesday and the doctor said that he could leave the hospital on Friday. Casey told him this and he seemed excited too but he still didn't want to see Lily, Ella, or Ben. Casey thought that he would want to see them when he came home so she didn't read deeply into Derek's assumption of where home was.

It was after Casey left that morning when Bree came in during the evening, serving Derek's dinner that all havoc broke loose. It wasn't anyone's fault, but Bree felt that it was hers. Well, it was her words that set him off.

"Hey Derek," Bree said carrying the tray that contained food.

"What's for dinner?" he asked her.

"Spaghetti and meatballs with peas and corn on the side. Jell-O for dessert," she said putting the tray on the table.

"I can tell you one thing, I'm going to miss this food when I'm out of here," he told her.

"Why?" Bree asked him.

"Because my dad will do all the cooking since Casey has moved out and he sucks at it," Derek informed her.

"Derek," she said confused. She paused but then asked him, "You know you're going home with Casey right?" He had always been polite to her these past weeks that she had forgotten about his temper.

"What! No I'm not moving in with Casey! No way!" Derek let out incredulously. He was  
so over come with anger he threw the tray off the table. "Get out!" he yelled at her. "Get! Out!"

Bree bolted out of the room and locked the door, afraid that Derek would storm out since he was able to walk. She ran to the phone and dialled the only number she could think of. She was praying that the phone would be answered while hearing Derek destroyed the room.

---

"Mom, can I have a cookie?" Ben asked Casey.

"Finish your vegetables first," she instructed him. Ben began to complain as the phone rang. "The faster you finish them, the faster you can have a cookie," she said reaching for the phone, causing Ben to stop speaking.

"Hello," she said into the phone.

"Casey, you need to get here, Derek is having a fit! I don't know what to do! He seems to be tearing the room apart!" Bree cried into the phone.

Casey didn't waste any time. "I'll be right there," she said hanging up the phone. "Get your shoes and coats on now!" Casey said to her children as she grabbed her cell phone and dialled Sabrina's number.

There was no answer on her cell phone and Casey remembered that Sabrina never charged her cell phone anyways. She then called the house number as she locked her front door and jumped into the car. She made sure that her children were strapped in before she started driving. There was no answer at the Sabrina's house either. She remembered Sam was at the store and Sabrina was probably there too. Anna was at the studio so she couldn't bother her. Lizzie worked on Wednesday nights and Edwin and Marti were too far away to drop off her kids and get to the hospital quickly. Darrin was on another date with Emily, his third this week and her mother and George were out celebrating their anniversary. For the first time in five years, she had no one to take her  
kids. It didn't matter though. She decided that she would just get Bree to watch them while she talked to Derek. Derek didn't have to see them, and they didn't have to see Derek.

Bree sighed in relief when she saw Casey come in, carrying Ben in her arms as Ella and Lily were on either side of her. Casey saw two hospital security officers standing outside Derek's room and knew that Derek was having a terrible fit. She sat Ben down on one of the chairs in front of Derek's room and instructed Lily and Ella to sit and stay where they were.

"Thank goodness you're here. He doesn't want to see anyone, he just keeps screaming," Bree told her as they heard Derek stomping back and forth.

He wasn't throwing things so Casey assumed he didn't have anything to throw as he kept screaming. Casey recognized this tantrum as she had witnessed them many times before. When she was a teenager, she was usually the root cause of them and she had a funny feeling that she caused this one too.

"Watch them, and if it gets too loud, get them to the café, please," Casey told Bree and she nodded. Casey walked towards the room as the hospital security officers allowed her to pass.

She ducked just in time before a picture frame hit the wall above her head. As she closed the door, she looked on the floor and saw glass everywhere from things that use to be vases, and picture frames. Ripped papers, which were once their children's artwork were strewn all over the floor. She then noticed that Derek was only wearing socks and he was walking on glass. She didn't see blood anywhere but that didn't mean anything.

"Derek stop!" she cried over his screaming.

Derek glared at her. He didn't realize that she came in. He just saw the door open and wanted to chuck something at someone. "This is all your fault!" he glared at her as he walked towards her.

Casey held her ground. She knew Derek wouldn't hurt her. Derek wasn't violent towards any of his family members when he was mad. He just liked to throw things.

"How is this my fault? Did I break all these things?" she asked him.

"Oh you know what I mean," he said, throwing his arms up in the air and pacing away from her.

It amazed Casey that he didn't break any skin on his feet from walking on the glass. She then saw a path that Derek must have laid out for himself – one that was mostly glass free - of the big pieces anyways.

"What happened Derek?" she asked calmly.

Derek glared at her. "You failed to tell me that I was going to your home!"

"No, I've told you for a week now that you're going home," Casey denied.

"No! I'm going to your home, not mine! Was this a trick to see your stupid kids!" he asked her.

Casey closed her eyes, hoping that her kids did not hear that, or if they did, that Bree would take them away.

"They're not stupid," she said loudly, hoping that if outside her kids would hear. They both paused because they heard a screech outside the door.

"Ella no!" Casey heard Bree cry as Ella threw open the door and hugged Casey. Casey then looked quickly at Derek: there was no doubt that he knew this was his child.

Derek couldn't believe it when he saw the child that grabbed Casey's leg. She wasn't the spitting image of Casey, or him, but she was the two of them combined. He noticed that the child seemed to be trying to protect her mother because she was afraid of him. He looked past her, seeing another girl that was identical to the one holding Casey's leg and a boy that was squirming to get out of Bree's arms. Unlike the girls, this child was a spitting image of Derek, with only a few traits of Casey's traits. Derek realized, that these  
scared children were his, all his. What shocked him even more was the memory he remembered from seeing these faces.

_"Here, you go," the nurse said handing one child to Casey wrapped in a pink blanket. "And here you go," the nurse said, trying to hand Derek the other child._

_Derek quickly backed up. "No, just hand her to her mother," he said._

_Casey then scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You're going to have to hold them sometime Derek," she said. "He's worried he'll drop them," Casey explained to the nurse._

_"I will hold them when their one," Derek said confidently._

_"You're going to wait a whole year to hold your children?" the nurse asked him. "That's a long time. Here, I'll help you," she said._

_Derek continued to shake his head but the nurse, who could have been his grandmother, wouldn't hear any of it. She handed the child quickly to Derek, letting go when she was sure that Derek had the child secure._

_"Support the head," she instructed. "There, that wasn't so hard," she said. "I'll give you two some privacy," she said leaving._

_"Wow, they're beautiful," Casey said to him._

_"They take after you," he replied. "Which one do you have?" he asked her._

_"Lily, you have Ella," Casey said confidently._

_"How do you know? I could very well have Lily and you have Ella," Derek said._

_"Nope, I know."_

_"How?"_

_"I just do," Casey said smiling._

_It was then that he noticed a purple bracelet on the child's wrist that he was holding. He looked at the child Casey was holding and saw that she was wearing a pink bracelet._

_Casey saw his gaze. "It was Edwin's idea. The one who has a purple bracelet is Ella and Lily has the pink one," she said._

Derek continued to stare at his children. He then looked at Casey, seeing fear in her eyes. He looked at what he had done and remembered what he said. "Sorry to scare everyone," he said, glancing at the girl holding Casey's leg. He noticed her wearing a purple bracelet on her wrist. "I didn't mean to scare you Ella," he said to her. "I just broke some glass and got excited. Your mom was just helping me clean it up."

Casey looked at him shocked. He knew which child was which. "Ella, leave the room please until we can clean up the glass," Casey ordered. Ella nodded and left the room. Casey closed the door behind her and looked at Derek.

"Sorry, I didn't know they were here. I never expected them to be here," Derek said quietly.

"Couldn't find anyone quick enough. I wanted to see that you were okay," she told him.

Derek nodded. "Well, let's clean up this mess so that I can meet my kids."

Casey beamed, happy that he said his kids, instead of hers.

Reviews are always welcome


	5. Derek's Plan

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5: Derek's Plan

Casey sighed when she walked into her house. She was carrying all of Derek's possessions from the hospital without any help from him as he dragged in behind her.

His attitude was explained by his feelings that he was going to live in his own personal hell with Casey. He remembered vaguely back in the days, when he wanted to move into residence to get away from Casey; and now, he was stuck with her.

Derek hadn't made Casey's life any easier since he met her kids like she had hoped. Other than being caring towards their kids, he would only give her one-word answers or ask questions about Clara. His goal was to frustrate Casey to the point that she would kick him out: resulting in a divorce and him free to be with Clara. He didn't want to just ask for a divorce because he was sure everyone would turn on him but if Casey asked, no one would be mad. He noticed that all of his friends and family were very loyal towards Casey. It seemed to them that Casey could do no wrong. So, it was up to him to get out  
of this marriage.

He came up with this idea after Casey left from the hospital with his kids. So, as Casey carried in everything that she could, Derek just walked in, kicked off his shoes and threw them as far away from where they were suppose to go. He saw Lily though quickly picked up his shoes and put them in the right spot. He shook his head: he was going to have to corrupt his kids. He assumed Casey was sucking all the fun out of their lives.

"Now this is the living room," Casey said, putting the items that were in her arms on the floor. "Kitchen's over there, dinning room," she continued pointing. "Upstairs to the left and middle are the kids' rooms. To the right is the master bedroom-"

"We're not sleeping together are we?" Derek asked in a panicked tone, he would rather sleep on nails than share the same bed with Casey.

"No. Until you feel comfortable, the room is yours. I'm sleeping on the couch and I've moved most of my things into Lily's and Ella's rooms so the room is yours," Casey explained to him. He was a bit taken back from this. The Casey he remembered would never give up her room.

He nodded as Ben said, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

Casey glanced at the clock, a little shocked at how much time they had spent at the hospital. "I'll get lunch started right away. Is pasta alright with everyone?" Casey meant this to be a rhetorical question. She knew that her kids loved pasta. She began to walk to the kitchen but Derek's voice caused her to pause.

"No," he said, still standing where he was.

Casey turned around. "Oh, well, what about turkey sandwiches?" she asked. She knew Derek loved any form of meat. Although, she also knew that Derek liked pasta too.

"No," he said again.

"What about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" Ella interfered. She remembered from the stories that her mother always told her that her father could never resist it.

"What kind of jelly?" Derek asked taking of his hostile eyes from Casey and looking kindly at his daughter.

"Blueberry," Ella said.

He hesitated but finally said "Fine."

Casey smiled. "Alright, I'll just take these bags upstairs and I'll start lunch." She said while grabbing the bags.

The children then began to climb the stairs, heading towards the washroom to wash their hands and Casey followed, carrying the much too heavy bags up the stairs. As Derek watched her, the thought of her falling crossed his mind but he couldn't bring himself to offer help. He didn't want to make Casey possibly think that their marriage could work. It couldn't. After they were out of sight, he wasn't sure where to go. He settled for the couch and turned on the TV.

Casey, with her kids following behind her, came back downstairs as soon as he sat down. Derek caught her glancing at his kids, indicating to them to go sit with him. She then walked to the kitchen as his children moved toward him. Ben climbed onto his lap and the twins sat beside him.

---

After lunch, Derek played with his kids with Ben's action figures and the twins' Barbies. He was informed that Sam, Sabrina, their children, Anna, Jason, Darrin, and Emily were all coming over for dinner. Casey only invited her close friends because their family had a bit of a party at the hospital. Also, they all believed that it was best for Derek to interact with people he didn't remember, hoping that it would help his memory.

Casey was preparing a home-cooked meal, one of Derek's favourites while her thoughts consumed her. She was hoping that soon Derek would warm up to her and stop giving her the cold shoulder. She was happy though that Derek treated his kids like he treated Marti. Humming to herself and trying not to eavesdrop on her family's conversation, she was unconscious to Lily's constant glances towards the kitchen door while she was playing.

"What is it?" Derek finally asked her because he was confused that she wasn't as interested in the game as the other two were.

"We should go into the kitchen to help mommy," Lily stated, shifting her gaze from the door to him.

"Do you help your mom cook a lot?" Derek asked her.

"Yes," she said. She did not notice the train of thought that Derek had.

"And we help her clean too," Ella added, proud that Casey considered them as helpful instead of a nuisance.

"How often?" he asked them.

"Everyday," Lily said.

"I help too," Ben added.

Derek quickly got up, muttering that he would be back. He stomped over to the kitchen and slammed the door that led to the dining room and connecting living room. He knew in a divorce that he would want full custody of these kids. Casey was treating them like slaves.

Casey looked up in shock, jumping a bit at the sound of the door slamming shut. She had been so engrossed at making the meal that she didn't know what was wrong.

"What happened?" she asked him, completely concerned.

She stopped cutting the vegetables and placed the knife down on the table to give Derek her full attention. She was going to check on her kids but Derek's face made her stop. She understood immediately that nothing was physically wrong. No one was hurt but Derek was angry with her for some reason. She had no idea what it was. She waited patiently for Derek to answer her question.

"Are you happy?" Derek asked her roughly.

She was stunned at this question. Many people have always asked her if she was happy since Derek was in a coma and she usually gave them one phrase. She decided to use it now.

"As happy as I can be," she said.

Derek shook his head. He knew that Casey was not on the same page as he was.

"No. I mean, how could you?" he clarified.

Casey was a bit taken back. She wasn't sure what to say. She could tell that Derek was trying to keep his temper down to a minimum for their children but she didn't know how to give him the answer that he wanted.

"How could I what?"

"Is that why you wanted kids?" he asked her. Casey was about to say something but he continued. "To treat them like slaves? Oh cook this, clean that while mommy takes a nap?" he asked her. He stopped controlling his voice at the end, practically yelling at her.

"I don't do that-"

"Lily and Ella just told me that they help daily! Do these kids have any fun or do you just give them one chore after another until they're wiped out."

Casey stayed very calm. She picked up the knife and began chopping up the vegetables. "Derek you know me. Does that really sound like me. Would I make them cook and clean and do nothing to help?" she asked him.

"I remember your terrible babysitting techniques. You tried to shove as much education and healthy food down our siblings' throats!" Before Casey could react, the kitchen door burst opened.

"That's not true! Mommy doesn't shove anything down our throats!" Lily shouted, running to her mother. Once again, her children were trying to protect her.

"What's going on here?" Casey heard a male voice demand behind her.

She turned around, seeing Sam walking quickly to the kitchen. She guessed that she didn't hear the doorbell over Derek's shouting. It was a good thing that Ella answered it. She quickly put the knife down, and pushed Lily behind her. She was blocking Derek from Sam.

"Nothing," Casey said calmly. "Lily, go back into the living room. Go play with Liza."

Lily nodded, feeling that the worse was over. Even if it wasn't, Uncle Sam would protect her mother from her father. No one spoke until Lily was out of hearing range.

"What did you do now?" Sam asked, looking over Casey checking to see if she was hurt. Then he scowled at Derek.

"Nothing. Just trying to protect my kids from their slave owner mother!" Derek's voice grew louder as he informed Sam. Sabrina then entered the kitchen, glaring at Derek.

"Can you keep it down, you're kind of scaring the kids. No wonder Ella opened the door quickly and pulled Sam in," Sabrina said.

Derek paused. He had no idea how loud he was. He didn't mean to scare his kids. He mentally resolved that he would have to try to control his temper when they could hear.

"Sorry," he said calming down a bit.

"Now, what's this about Casey being a slave owner?" she asked him.

"Nothing," Casey denied.

"Nothing? She gets our kids to help cook and clean everyday," Derek said through his teeth. He was trying very hard not to yell.

Sabrina and Sam then shocked Derek by laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked them, still trying not to yell.

"It's just that," Sam said since he recovered faster than Sabrina did, "Casey probably is the least slave drive mother ever. She never asks her kids to do anything except make their beds and put their dishes into the sink. They volunteer."

"Volunteer, sure."

"It's your fault you know," Sabrina informed him.

"My fault?" Derek asked, shocked completely.

"Yeah, you always told Lily and Ella to go help Casey. Of course, Ben would want to help too after seeing his sisters do it. It's the copy-cat syndrome," She explained.

Hearing this, Derek grumbled and walked away. Sam followed him, hoping that a friendly conversation will lighten his mood. Sabrina began to help Casey finish up with the food. Once she was sure Sam and Derek couldn't hear them anymore, she turned to Casey.

"So, how are things?" she asked her.

"Fine," Casey said, not looking up from her task.

"I mean really, how are things?" she asked again.

"Fine - really."

"Yeah, I can tell."

"It's just going to take time. He's still adjusting," Casey claimed.

Sabrina nodded, letting the topic drop. They silently finished preparing dinner as the other guests arrived. First Anna and Jason then Darrin and Emily.

At dinner, Casey couldn't stop beaming when she looked at Emily's goofy face. She was practically head over heels for Darrin. Darrin wasn't able to let go of Emily's hand and whenever he and Casey made eye-contact, he flashed her, the same goofy expression Emily had. Casey was so overjoyed that she brought together two people that she cared about.

In her eyes, the dinner was a success. Everyone, including Derek seemed to be enjoying themselves. Casey was even happier when Darrin mentioned the trip to the Children's Museum and Sam asked Derek if he would come. After a moment's hesitation and Ben saying, "pretty please with a cherry on top," Derek agreed. He simply couldn't resist Ben any more than the rest of them could. The dinner was such a success that Derek and Casey even shared a smile for a split second before he realized what he did.

After the dinner was finished and everyone left, the good mood that Derek was in seemed to have left with them. The kids were asleep and Casey began to clean up. There wasn't much to clean. The dirty dishes were the only housework that Casey had to do before calling it a night.

"That was very nice of you, for agreeing to go to the Children's Museum with us. You didn't have to, we would have understood. Thank you though," she said.

Derek just nodded, looking at the floor. "I didn't do it for you," was all he said.

"I know but thank you anyways," Casey replied.

Derek grunted again. "I'm going to bed," he said, walking up the stairs quickly.

"Goodnight," Casey called after him, only getting the sound of the door closing as a response. She sighed and then went to do the dishes. Soon after, she fluffed up the pillows on the couch and went to sleep. She hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

---

Derek waited until he was sure that Casey went to sleep. He was afraid she would interrupt him, claiming that she needed something from the room and he didn't want to get caught. He knew that if he did, Casey would tell Sabrina and Sabrina would tell Sam. He didn't want Sam to be angry at him because he felt like that he was the only friend he had. Sure he liked Anna and Jason. They were easy to be friends with and Emily had always been his friend but he just wasn't close to them as he was to Sam. He knew that Sabrina just tolerated him and he had no idea where Darrin stood. He definitely wanted to keep Sam as a friend so he had to do this secretly.

Derek quietly opened the laptop that Casey owned. As he turned it on, the screen filled with a family picture. They were at the beach, sitting on a blanket. Derek was holding Lily and Ella in his lap while his arm was around Casey's shoulders. It was clear that Casey was pregnant and he assumed that this picture had to have been taken only three months prior to the accident. He knew that Ben was born on the day he was in a coma. He figured his recent accident caused Casey to realize that she may be losing income and she had one of her classic panic attacks. Something that was so typical for Casey. He just couldn't comprehend that maybe Casey cared about him.

He quickly pushed Casey out of his head. Now wasn't the time to think about her. He went to 'Google' and typed in Clara Brown. The results that first popped up weren't very helpful. It turned out that there were more Clara Browns than he thought. He spent practically half the night trying to find her only to realize that maybe Clara might have married and changed her last name. It pained him to imagine another man touching Clara, being the one she talked to about her day. Clara was like his air. He needed her to survive.

After he decided that he would just have to figure out Clara's last name now, Derek began thinking about lawyers. He knew a bunch of them, since he was the son of one but he had to decide who would be the best to represent him in a divorce. He wanted to plan before Casey had a hint about the custody battle that she was going to endure. When Casey asked for a divorce, he would be one-step ahead of her.

Reviews are always welcome


	6. Secrets and Promises

a/n: I'll be able to update faster now since school is over. Sorry it took so long.

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6: Secrets and Promises

Derek spent the rest of that weekend in two parts. During the day, he spent it with his kids. He never left their sides at the Children's Museum and continued to do activities with them. Though he gave Casey the cold shoulder, he was pleasant to everyone else. By night, he continued his search for Clara. The only lead he got was an article in the paper that mentioned a scholarship she had received when she graduated. Derek saved the article on the computer, placing it in a file that he hoped Casey wouldn't discover too quickly.

By Monday, Derek had two options. He could either go into the store that he and Sam started or stay at home all day with Casey. Of course, Derek leaped for the former, tossing aside Casey's disgruntled comments on how he might not be ready. She was afraid for him to see the place where he almost died and wanted to come but Derek implied not to discretely that it was _his _and _Sam's _business, not hers. So, Casey backed off, trying to give him what he wanted.

Sam picked him up Monday morning and both of them entered the store slowly.

"Now, if you want to leave at any time, just say the word and we're gone," Sam told him.

"Geez Sam, you almost fuss as much as Casey," Derek joked as he pushed past him and went inside.

Derek stopped just inside the door, taking it all in. He had memories after looking at some pictures in an album the night before. He knew that he opened the store after university, majoring in business when he had a hockey injury that would forever keep him off the ice in a competitive sense. The store looked different from his memories somehow.

"Wasn't there paint that chipped there from a shelf that fell?" Derek pointed. He had remembered that because luckily, there was nothing on it when it fell. It caused a huge dent in the paint but there was no mark now.

"Oh, there was. We painted it last year. Well, I should say Casey did. We hired some painters and Casey offered to stay in the store to supervise. You know, just in case something went wrong. Well, it turns out that the painters never showed and Casey didn't want to have another business day lost so she painted the entire store herself. Sabrina and I never would have known though. Casey never told us. It was only, when a month later the painters did show up, having the dates mixed up that we realized what actually happened," Sam praised.

Derek nodded, a bit surprised that Casey didn't whine that she painted the store by herself. In fact, he began to realize that Casey never whined at all anymore. She just let whatever he said roll off her back. He figured though that she was trying to be nice to the coma guy. He assumed that the kindness would soon stop.

As he was looking around, he slowly walked towards the desk where the cash register was. With Sam on his heels, he walked around it and knew that this was the exact place he almost died. For the first time since he woke up, he had a memory of that moment.

_"Just take whatever you want," Derek said to the mask man._

"I plan to," the man replied in a deep, husky, scratchy voice. It was almost as if he was trying to disguise it.

"What do you want?" Derek asked, trying to push aside the gut feeling that he knew this person.

"The death of your daisy," the man answered just before he shot him.

"Oh my god," Derek said, grabbing the counter.

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked, concerned for his friend.

"I remember something," Derek replied.

"What?"

"Something the guy said before he shot me. Something I didn't remember before. Something that might help the police find my attempted murderer. I have to go," he said abruptly as he walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, following him.

"To the police station."

"I'm coming too."

"No, stay and manage the store, I'll come back," Derek mumbled as he ran out of the store.

---

Detective Jim Waters sighed as he sat in his chair. Five years ago, he had been put on the case of the attempted murder of Derek Venturi. He remembered meeting Casey Venturi a couple days after the terrible incident happened.

_He walked into the room just as she woke up from a nap. The nurse had wanted to bring the baby but he asked if he could have a few minutes to question Casey._

After a couple of minutes, Jim was saddened because Casey could not help him get any answers. She couldn't think of anyone that would have a motive to attack her husband. The police were trying to look at all angles but they suspected that it was most likely a random robbery.

He remembered her broken hearted state: her face tearstained, her eyes red and blotchy: she spent most of her time crying. Her hair hadn't been brushed in days and she was getting very little sleep and the little she did get was due to the sleeping pills the nurses insisted she took. She was too worried and distraught to fall asleep on her own.

Jim had tried to imagine his wife facing this situation but he couldn't without feeling completely terrible. He impulsively reached out and grabbed Casey's hands, holding it in between his.

"I'm going to find who did this and make him pay," he told her.

Casey nodded, tears silently streaming down her cheeks. "Thank you, but honestly, I don't really care," she said.

Jim was a bit shocked at this comment. He began to wonder if maybe Casey had been involved in the attempted murder on her husband.

"What I mean," Casey continued, oblivious to his poker face, "is that if you catch the person who had single-handedly ripped my life apart in a mere number of seconds, it won't matter. It won't bring Derek back. For all we know, this person could have been robbing the store to feed his family, or maybe he was just a child himself: a teenager that didn't really know what he was doing or understands the consequences. There is a part of me that desperately wants justice but I won't be one of those people who have lost a loved one and think that a great deal of justice will mend my broken heart. Justice may shrink that aching hole in my heart but only Derek can completely fix it."

Jim nodded, trying to understand what she was saying but did not fully comprehend it. He became a cop because the one thing he believed in this world was justice. Casey Venturi believed in something more. She had faith that her husband was going to wake up.

"I'll still hold to my promise though. When your husband wakes up, I'll be proud to hear you tell him that the person who did this will never be able to do it again," he finally said.

Casey just nodded, not fully into the conversation.

After many months of investigating, Jim was losing hope. In the beginning, he had called Casey once a day to give her updates. Then when the leads were getting colder, coming up with more dead ends, he called her weekly; then monthly, then only when he had something new to tell her. Until, finally, it had been three months with nothing. The case had gone cold but Jim wouldn't accept that. He kept trying to find anything new and coming up with nothing. 

_  
Everyone figured that they weren't going to catch this person. Everyone assumed that it was most likely a random robbery because of Casey's insistence that no one would want to kill Derek. Hope was completely lost with many people._

Jim had decided to see Casey. He wanted to ask her again if she was a hundred percent sure that no one would have a motive to kill Derek.

"No," Casey said to him, stirring her tea and sitting at her kitchen table. She had just gotten Ben to sleep when Jim appeared at her door.

"No one, not anyone at all? Not even maybe one person who might have a far fetched motive? Someone he made fun of in high school that might have held a grudge?" Jim pressed.

"No. Everyone loved Derek in high school. The only person who he picked on was me," Casey replied.

_Jim ran his hands through his hair. He didn't know what to tell her. He had to move on from this case. He knew that his boss was going to tell him that soon. They had absolutely nothing to investigate any more._

_  
"It's okay," Casey said, as if reading his mind._

"What's okay?" he asked.

"That you didn't find him. Maybe that was the way it was suppose to be. You need to move on. Work on a case that's actually possible to solve. It's okay, I won't hold you to your promise," she said. 

_  
He began to weep, a first in public since he was eight years old. He wanted desperately to help Casey. He had never been so attached to a case like this before. He didn't know why. Maybe he needed to solve this because he wanted to give Casey justice or prove to her that justice can help through painful times. He couldn't give her that though._

"I'm sorry," he said repeatedly. Casey just held him, trying to comfort him.

That was the last time he had seen Casey Venturi. Now five years later, her husband woke up and he was in British Columbia, attending his daughter's wedding. Two rookie cops were the ones that interviewed Derek Venturi and he got absorbed in the case the second he came back. He was too afraid to talk to Casey though. He was scared that even with this break in the case, that he may, even now, not solve it.

Today though, he knew that he could not put off contacting Casey any longer. Not when her husband had came into the police station, asking, well more like demanding to speak to the detective that was in charge of his case.

"I'm Detective Jim Waters. It's nice to finally meet you Mr. Venturi," Jim said, sticking his hand out.

Derek shook his hand and grunted. He didn't like talking to cops and this middle age guy did not brighten his confidence that they would catch his attempted murderer. He figured he might as well tell him what he remembered but had a distinct feeling it wouldn't help much. Once the initial shock wore off, Derek figured he shouldn't have come - but it was already too late. He was here, sitting in front of an officer, waiting for him to speak.

"The robber," Derek started after Jim had given him a glass of water. He had his notepad out, ready to take notes from Derek's recollection. "He stalled. He didn't shoot me right away, yet he wasn't asking for money."

Jim nodded, expecting that this person was nervous, probably a first time offender.

"What did he say?" Jim pushed.

"When I asked him what he wanted, he said 'the death of your daisy.'"

Jim stopped writing and looked at him. "'The death of your daisy?'" he asked to make sure he heard him right and Derek nodded. "Do you know what that means?"

"Not the slightest. I don't own any daisies."

"Well, ask your friends and family, they might know."

Derek nodded again and soon after left, heading back to the store. He didn't want to tell Casey. She might think that this breakthrough as a step closer for them to be together, but he didn't want that. So he decided that keeping one more secret from her wasn't going to change much. By the time he reached the store, he was no longer thinking about his latest  
memory and didn't even mention it to Sam.

---

That morning, Casey did the only thing that she could do to get her mind off everything. She danced. She felt guilty because she hadn't been creating any new choreography on her own time. Recitals and competitions were coming soon. For an hour and a half, all she did was dance. Then after she picked up Ben and gave him lunch, she grabbed her laptop from her bedroom and sat on the couch, typing in the key notes that she choreographed while Ben was lying on his stomach on the floor, watching a movie.

Taking a break from work, Casey opened up her email. She had two new messages. The first was from one of her dance students. The student wanted the cut version of her solo jazz piece. Casey quickly went to attachments to find the song. She clicked on the wrong file by accident and found that there was a document titled CB. Curious, Casey first attached the song and sent the e-mail. Then, she went to 'my computer' and searched for the CB document. Upon finding it, she discovered that it was information on Clara Brown.

Casey began to panic. If Derek found Clara, he would soon try to leave her and she wasn't prepared for that heartbreak. She was reassured though when she saw the document on Clara was just a dead end.

Closing the document, she decided that she wouldn't confront Derek. Instead, she would make periodic checks to the file for progress. She then went back to her Inbox and clicked on the other unopened message. This contact was one Casey did not recognize.

The message also confused her.

'Soon we will be together,' was all it said. She brushed it off, assuming the e-mail was probably sent to the wrong person. Even so, it was still a bit creepy and she jumped when the phone rang, breaking her concentration.

"Hello?" Casey said into the portable phone.

"Hello Casey, it's Detective Jim Waters."

"Detective, hello. It's been a long time since we've talked. How's Julie?"

Jim smiled, amazed that Casey would remember his wife's name. "She's fine."

"And Annie?"

"Fine too, she just recently got married. That's where I was, in B.C. I was at her wedding when your husband woke up."

Casey could hear in Jim's voice that he was beating himself up for not being here when Derek woke up.

"That's wonderful Jim," she said. "So what brings you to call me?"

"An update. I know it's been a long time but we have something new."

"You do?" Casey asked, sitting up straighter from the couch.

"Your husband came by. I just wanted to tell you in case he forgot. He seemed to remember something that the robber said before he shot Mr. Venturi," Jim started.

Casey was in shock. Derek had a memory of that day. She was so overwhelmed that she dropped the phone while Jim was still talking. She missed him telling her what Derek said.

"The shooter said that he wanted 'the death of your daisy,'" Jim said before he heard a crash. "Casey? Casey are you alright?"

"Yeah sorry, I dropped the phone."

"Did you hear what I said?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Casey replied, thinking he was referring to Derek having a memory.

"Well, think about it and if you come up with any new information, let me know."

"Of course, Detective. And Jim," Casey started when she felt that the conversation was about to end.

"Yeah?"

She first debated about telling him about the strange e-mail, but she felt that she was overreacting. "Thanks for trying to fulfill your promise but no pressure. Don't get stressed and effect your health over this. Please keep that promise."

"I promise that," Jim said before he hung up. After he put the phone down, he said to himself, "I will keep both promises."

The robber was excited. By now, Casey would have received his e-mail. He was going to hold onto his promise. Soon Derek will be dead and he will have Casey forever as it should have been five years ago. His secret promise to her would never be broken. "The end of Derek is near," he whispered to himself before his doorbell rang. He shut off his laptop to welcome his date inside.

Reviews are always welcome


	7. In the Heat of the Moment

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 7: In the Heat of the Moment

Derek grunted with frustration. He punched the mattress beside him, trying to control his anger. It was as if Clara had disappeared off the face of the Earth. There was nothing about her. Nothing; except an old article that told of her receiving a full scholarship from a university. Nothing recent. He had spent the entire week looking for her. He had found her parents number and contacted them but that was a dead end. They remembered him and wouldn't give him anything that would aid his quest. They just said that sometimes it  
was best to leave people in the past.

He didn't accept that defeat. He needed to find Clara. He wouldn't be happy until he did. The internet must have something on her. It should have. Even Derek's eighty year-old grandmother who didn't even own a computer was mentioned on the internet, because of her involvement with some charity function. Without thinking, Derek swore and banged his fist against the wall. He then paused, listening intently to the silence of the house, waiting for a sound to signify that he woke someone up. He didn't hear anything so he  
continued to try his search again.

Casey sighed when she heard the loud bang that came from her bedroom. She had debated whether to see if Derek was all right but after hearing him swear, she knew he was fine. Truthfully, she was afraid to interrupt him. Derek had gotten increasingly more irritated at her this past week. She figured it was because there was no progress in the search for Clara.

They had been talking less and less to each other since he had begun seeking Clara. He only talked to her if he had a question that referred to their children. Whenever they were alone together – which wasn't often since he retreated to the master bedroom after Ben, Lily, and Ella went to sleep – Derek would either ignore her or yell at her. He usually yelled when Casey asked if he had any more memories. He felt betrayed when Jim had told Casey that he had a memory. He didn't want to give Casey hope.

She felt like she was losing Derek as time went by, because she was competing with a memory. It was too bad that the one thing Derek didn't remember was how Clara broke his heart. If only she broke up with him before their graduation. She would have taken depressed Derek any day over Derek the angry monster.

Casey rolled over, facing the back of the couch. Every morning, one muscle or another would ache but she never complained. She knew that it could be worse. She could have her bed back but Derek would be gone. She wasn't going to give Derek another reason to leave. So she silently suffered, always holding back tears until late at night, crying herself to sleep hoping that tomorrow would be a better day. Tonight, before falling asleep, she mentally planned what she was going to do the next day, knowing that she had to finish the choreography for the recital. She knew that she could get 'Slow Me Down'  
finished if she worked on it tomorrow.

The next day was like any other. Derek was still Derek. He was rude, angry, and annoyed, especially at Casey. He felt that Casey was the thing that was keeping him and Clara separated. A part of him told him that it was irrational to blame Casey but it was how he felt. He felt like he had been playing husband to Casey for too long. He would have left Casey by now, moved in with his parents until he could get a place of his own but his lawyer advised against it. He secretly talked to a lawyer a few days before and asked him what his chances were of getting custody of his children. He had been hoping  
that there was a good chance but since he had been in a coma for the past five years and Casey had been taking care of them by herself, the odds were against him. The lawyer advised him to stick it out for a little longer, so he was staying with Casey to ward off any suspicion.

This had been on his mind all day, especially on the ride home. He parked his car in the garage and walked up to the house. Upon entering, he was surprised that no one greeted him. Usually all three of his kids ran up to hug him while Casey stayed a safe distance in the hallway. She always looked awkward welcoming him home and he assumed that she was just trying to give him space. The real reason though was that she was always worried at this time of day. She was afraid that he had decided to not come home. That he had left her. And every day when he walked through the door, relief flooded her.  
This time though, only the silence welcomed him. Derek began to panic. He wondered if maybe Casey somehow knew that he had met a lawyer and left him, taking their children with her. He began searching the house when he heard music coming from downstairs. As he walked closer, he realized it was coming from Casey's dance room.

Derek quietly looked into the room through the opened door, his kids oblivious to him, watching Casey dance. They were mesmerized watching their mother dance, rather unlike Marti who used to get bored by Casey's dancing. He joined the kids in staring at Casey, and her movements and the song brought back another memory.

_ Derek was in an auditorium, part of the audience as Casey performed on stage. She was the last act of the night. As the music finished, he silently thanked God. He wanted to get back into his dorm room where he spent most of his time sulking. The only reason he came to this was because Casey had whined to his father and Nora. They weren't able to make it to her show and Casey desperately wanted a family member there. Nora had mentioned that Derek could go and Casey let it slip that he wouldn't come because Derek never went to anything._

_This comment made George threaten Derek. He was worried that Derek was becoming a recluse, so he told him to either go or he wouldn't pay for tuition next year for him. Harsh, but Derek didn't take the chance that George was bluffing._

_So he went and watched the two hours of torture. He was absolutely bored until Casey came on. This was the first time that he had actually seen Casey perform. He had seen her dance at their house during high school but he always weaseled out of attending her final performances convinced that he would hate it. He realized now that he was wrong. There was something about the way that Casey moved that pulled him in._

_As he watched her, he began to think about Clara. He wondered what Clara would think about Casey's performance. He wished that he could call and take her to the next show but he couldn't. This is why he hated leaving his dorm. Everything reminded him of Clara. Whenever he was somewhere, he wondered what Clara would think or what she would say. Things that she liked were worse. He couldn't even walk past a flower shop because it hurt too much, knowing that her passion was flowers._

_When the show ended, Derek jumped up, ready to leave but a hand stopped him._

_"Hey Derek, let's go this way, I promised to meet Sabrina over there," Sam said to him._

_"You go, I'm going to get back," Derek said trying to worm his way out of the death grip that Sam had on him._

_"Just for a second," Sam pulled him._

_They waited for three minutes before Sabrina finally emerged. Anna was behind her, both beaming at the excitement of their first performance._

_  
"So what did you think?" Sabrina asked Sam.  
_

"_You were beautiful," Sam answered back, looking at Sabrina affectionately. Both Anna and Derek rolled their eyes._

_"Derek, what did you think?" Anna asked._

_She was impressed that she remembered his name. She never saw him much and whenever she did, he always looked like he wanted to leave. She tried to include him as much as she could though, after Casey begged her to give him a chance. Anna hated party poopers but Casey kept insisting that he wasn't always like this._

_"You danced nicely," was all he said before he noticed that Casey wasn't with them. This surprised him because she usually was with Anna and Sabrina. _

_  
"Where's Casey?" Derek asked._

_"Oh, she's… um…" Sabrina began to say, not knowing how to answer him._

_"She's with Jared," Anna finished. She thought it was stupid that Derek was so angry that Casey was dating Jared. She would think that Derek would approve since they both played on the same hockey team. "They're on their way to the party," Anna said. One of the dancers was throwing a house party after the show and most of the dancers were planning to make it over there._

_"What!" Derek exploded. He was furious. Casey had defied him when he practically begged her not to go out with Jared. "I need to talk to her," Derek said, pushing past them to enter back stage._

_"She's already gone," Anna said stopping him. "If you want to talk to her, you have to meet her at the party."_

_She wasn't expecting him to go to the party. She had seen him at one and he just sulked the entire time. Casey had spent most of the night trying to get him to interact but he wouldn't do anything. She finally gave up when he told her to get lost and stormed out of the room._

_"Fine, I'll follow you," he told Sam._

_Everyone paused; surprised that Derek would want to go to another party since he clearly hated the last and only one he attended in his university life._

_"Okay, let's go. You ready?" he asked Sabrina and Anna._

_Both nodded and the four of them headed for the exit of the auditorium._

Derek was so surprised at this memory. He had no idea why he was worried for Casey. He was shocked that he held those emotions for her. The only people he had ever been worried for were Clara and Marti, now he was having feeling the same for Casey, and this scared him. What also frightened him was that as he was watching Casey dance; he felt the same emotions he had when he saw her dance years ago. He couldn't take his eyes off her and that made him want to push her even farther away.

Casey finally noticed Derek when the song ended and Lily jumped up, shouting 'Daddy!' as she ran towards him, leaping into his arms.

"Hey," he said as the other two ran towards him. He squatted down so that Ben and Ella would hit his arms instead of his legs.

"Did you see mommy dance?" Ben asked him.

Derek then looked up, seeing Casey fidgeting with her fingers. He noticed how awkward she seemed.

"Yeah I saw," he said still staring at her.

"What did you think? Didn't she dance beautifully?" Ella asked him.

"Yeah, she did," Derek replied, turning his gaze from Casey back to his kids.

Casey then cleared her throat. "I didn't realize how late it was, I'll start dinner," she said quickly leaving the room. She felt embarrassed at the words that Derek said. She hadn't heard him say anything like that in a long time.

Her family followed her to the kitchen. Lily, Ella, and Ben sat at the table, grabbing colouring books and began to occupy themselves. Derek sat with them but instead of engrossing himself into what they were doing as he usual, he kept staring at Casey. He couldn't get over the sentiments that had surfaced from the memory.

Casey felt Derek's eyes on her back as she busied herself with making supper. Still feeling awkward, she cleared her throat and her back still to him, she spoke.

"Are you taking Ben to hockey?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Derek said nodding even though he knew she couldn't see it. "And you're taking Lily and Ella to dance class and going to work," he stated.

Casey nodded. Even this little conversation made tears form in her eyes. She mentally laughed at herself. She had always been a bit of a crybaby.

This was the last thing that Casey and Derek said to each other since their children went into a play by play of their day. Then both parent raced out of the house to each of their children's activity.

Later that night, Casey walked into her house, going straight to her girls' rooms to put away their dance bags that she was holding. Each girl followed slowly behind her, both tired, they mechanically got ready for bed and fell asleep again without a fuss. She then went to Ben's room and saw that he was also asleep which made her realize that Derek was home.

She was surprised when she glanced at the master bedroom and the door was still open. Derek was still awake. She was shocked that he wasn't in his room. Usually once the kids were asleep he quickly retreated into the master bedroom to get away from her.

Casey slowly walked down the stairs, taking each step as a precaution. When she reached the bottom, she heard his voice from the kitchen.

"Case, can you come here for a sec?" he called.

This made her heart beat faster. It had been a long time since he called her Case. He never addressed her unless he needed something and it was always in a harsh voice, and always Casey. But now, he seemed calm, almost happy when he called her.

Not wanting to keep him waiting, she walked into the kitchen and to her astonishment, saw that he was putting away the recently washed dishes into the cabinets. If she hadn't seen it herself, she wouldn't have believed it.

"Have a seat. You must be tired after your work day," he said.

Casey slowly sat down on a chair by the table, watching him with caution. She had no idea who this Derek was. It was almost as if he was acting the way he did when they got married. She didn't hold her breath though; eighteen year old Derek acted like this when he needed something from her. He placed the last dish in the cabinet and then turned to her.

"I want to ask you something," he began.

Derek had been wondering about this during Ben's hockey practice and figured that Casey may be able to help him with the memory. He wanted an explanation to his reaction to the memory of her dancing.

Casey nodded, giving him the okay to begin.

He paused though, not sure how to start. He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. After offering one to her and her declining, he closed the door and leaned against the counter, facing her. He didn't open the bottle though, but just stared at her.

"I keep having these memories about a night, the night that you were almost raped but they aren't coming in order. I'm so confused and I want to know why this day keeps popping into my head," he started.

Casey nodded again. It was obvious that he didn't remember much. She was overjoyed that he wanted to know though. Her Derek might be coming back faster than she thought.

"Well, what do you remember?" she asked him.

"In order, the first memory I have is seeing you dance. It came back when I saw you dancing today," he began, feeling that he should explain that to her. "Then I have a conversation with Sabrina, Sam, and Anna. They were going to a party and I wanted to go after I found out you were with Jared. It's a good thing I did. Really, what did you see in that creep?"

Casey laughed. "You asked me that then too. He was incredibly charming but you're right. He was a creep."

They shared a smiled before Derek continued. "Well then there's a space in time that I can't remember. The next memory I have is Anna tapping my shoulder, asking me if I'd seen you. I know I was angry with you but I don't know why. When we decided to split up, I volunteered to go upstairs, expecting that you wouldn't be there." He paused and looked at Casey, "After hearing you scream, the next memory continued from this one. I fought Jared off and carried you to my car and drove to the next street over and we talked."

"That's all you remember?" Casey asked him.

"Yeah," he answered much to Casey's disappointment because he didn't remember more after that.

"Well, I can fill in the space. After we talked in the car, you drove me back to my dorm, both of us were silent during that ride," she started but Derek interrupted her.

"No, go in order. What was our fight about?" he asked.

Casey bit her bottom lip. She was afraid that he would ask this. "I would rather tell you this part first," she said.

"Why?" Derek asked as he finally decided to open the beer bottle. Earlier that day though, it had fallen to its side and when he opened it, the beer exploded, spilling on Casey. This triggered the scene that he wanted to remember.

_Derek stormed into the house, looking around for Casey. Anna, Sabrina, and Sam followed behind him._

_  
"Now Derek, cool it. Let's not be too hasty. Casey is allowed to date whomever she wants," Sam said to him._

_Derek wasn't listening though. He spotted Casey dancing 'Dirty Dancing' style with Jared. He stormed over to them and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Jared._

_"Derek!" Casey shrieked._

_"I need to talk to you. NOW!" he said dragging her to the kitchen._

_Once they got there, Casey ripped her arm out of his grasp._

_"What do you want?" she asked him._

_"Why are you here with him? I told you not to go out with him. He's bad news Casey," Derek said, feeling the anger boil inside him._

_Casey rolled her eyes. "Just because he's better at you in hockey doesn't mean that he's bad news. You're just jealous," she said while crossing her arms._

_He grunted. "I'm not jealous! I'm just trying to look out for you!"_

_"Oh yeah right! I've had it up to here with you!" she said, reaching her hand to be above your head. "You have been trying to ruin my happiness the second we arrived at university! All because Clara dumped you! You know what, I have tried to be the supportive step-sister and comfort you, include you. But all you want to do is be miserable and bring as many people down with you as you possibly can. No wonder you don't have any friends except the ones that either Sam or I have," she said._

_"Don't you dare bring Clara up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" Derek fought back._

_"Oh sure! I know exactly why you two broke up! Your temper destroyed that girl! She tried so hard to look past that and enjoy the good times but it was too much for her! Unfortunately for me, I'm not so lucky. I'm stuck here with you, being forced to help you! And you know what, I've had enough. I'm done. All you do is yell at me or whine at me and I can't take it anymore. All this negativity isn't good for anyone. So… so just leave me alone!" Casey exploded._

_She turned to leave when someone opened a beer bottle and it sprayed all over Casey's shoes._

_Derek began to laugh. "Looks like karma's a bitch."_

_"If it was, you'd be dead," she retorted._

_"You wish."_

_"Do I ever," she said before she stormed out of the kitchen.  
_

Derek glared at Casey.

"What? What's wrong," she asked, surprised at Derek's mood swing.

"I remember why I was mad at you! I remember the horrible things you said to me! How dare you?" Derek shook with anger, storming out of the room. Over the years, Casey had seen Derek extremely mad but she never seen him this angry. He shouted louder, stomped the floor harder and cursed more than ever before.

"Derek, please can you calm down so we can talk about this," she pleaded as she followed him into the hallway. He shrugged into his jacket and slipped into his shoes. Casey knew that she only had seconds before he stormed out of the house.

"Derek please, we have to talk. Walking away isn't going to help anyone," she pleaded again, gently touching his arm.

Derek ripped his arm out of her hand as if it caught on fire. He turned to her, his anger growing more by the second.

"I have nothing to say to a heartless bitch like you!" he heaved, before he threw the door open and stormed out of the house.

The door banged so hard that some of the pictures on the wall shook but Casey didn't notice. She didn't move until she couldn't hear Derek's car's engine anymore. She slowly shut the door, knowing that Derek wouldn't be coming back home anytime soon. She was very close to tears but knew that she couldn't cry until she made some phone calls.

Once she turned around, she heard a sound and looked at the top of the stairwell, seeing three pairs of eyes full of fear staring at her. She hadn't realized that her children had woken up; but the way Derek shouted, she was surprised that he didn't wake up the entire neighbourhood.

With all her strength, she managed to plaster a weak smile on her face. She didn't want to cry in front of them. She had to protect her children.

"Go back to sleep," she said to them. "Daddy just needed to take a drive, don't worry."

Ella and Lily nodded, knowing that this was the time to worry because they never saw their mother in such distress. Not knowing what to do, they both just took one of Ben's hands and brought him back to his room. All three children were too scared to sleep alone, so stayed together, falling asleep in Ben's bed.

After her children left the hallway, Casey quickly walked into the kitchen, unable to hold back the tears. She grabbed the portable phone off the table and kept walking to the sink only to slip on the beer that spilled on the floor. She fell on the ground and slid to the wall, banging her kneecap. Casey let out a little cry, knowing that a bruise would develop soon.

She ignored it though because she had to talk to Sam without sounding like a complete mess. She had to try twice before actually dialling the correct number. Once she did, she listened to the rings. On the third one, Sam picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said into the phone.

"Sam," Casey started. Her voice cracked and it didn't take a genius to discover that she was crying.

"Casey? What's wrong?" Sam asked. She detected the anger in his voice and could already tell that he was putting on his jacket to come and see her.

"To make a long story short, Derek and I had a fight," she began. "He left and I need you to find him and talk to him."

She then paused, knowing that what she was going to say next was going to kill her. She had been keeping this secret from Derek and everyone else that she knew. She felt guilty but knew that if it was common knowledge, Derek would have left her. She knew now though that Derek wouldn't be happy unless he found Clara. The quote 'if you love something set it free, if it was meant to be, it will come back' kept spinning in her head since Derek first woke up. Now she knew that even if Derek didn't come back to her, he  
deserved to talk to Clara.

"Casey, I-"

"I need you to take him to Clara," she interrupted.

"What? Casey, I don't understand. Did he hurt you?"

"No, at least not physically. Sam, listen, because it hurts too much to even say it once much less repeat it. I know where Clara is and I need you to take Derek to her. You have to go with him; I don't want him to go by himself. For goodness sakes, he's only been out of a coma for a couple months."

"How do you know where Clara is?"

Casey closed her eyes. She knew Sam wouldn't find this a betrayal but Derek would. "Two years ago when one of our dance competitions was in Niagara Falls, Clara was there. Her daughter, a year older than Lily and Ella, was competing. She approached me and we began to talk. I told her basically everything that happened since she broke up with Derek.

"We've been sending e-mails to each other since then. We even talk on the phone every so often. I talked to her two days after Derek woke up. She knows everything, that Derek only remembers up to the graduation. I called her when Derek first woke up because I was going to tell Derek where to find her, to talk to her but Clara talked me out of it. She said that we needed to build our relationship and the confrontation would just be a step back. I was selfish and scared so I took her advice. It doesn't matter now though, Derek needs to talk to Clara. I don't know what will happen between us now, but I need to know that he is safe," Casey finished while silent tears continually dripped down her face.

"Casey, no. I won't take him to Clara," Sam said.

"Please, he has to see her and I want someone to be with him. Please Sam," she pleaded.

After she heard him sigh, he said, "Where does she live?" he asked.

"In Hamilton. Her name is Clara Draper and she leaves on 564 Collingwood drive," Casey choked out. Now that it was done, there was no turning back.

"Okay Casey, Sabrina is coming over."

"No please, I don't want company. Besides someone has to stay with Liza and Adam while you search for Derek. I'll see Sabrina tomorrow, just find Derek."

"Casey, he's-"

"And bring him to Clara," she interrupted Sam again.

"I will," Sam promised.

"Thanks Sam, I owe you one," she said before she hung up the phone. She didn't realize she ended the conversation before Sam could say anything else. Wiping her tears off her face, she began to dial again. This time, it was a long distance number. As she heard the phone ring, she prayed that her voice didn't sound completely terrible.

"Hello?" the person said once they picked up.

"Hey Clara, he's coming," she said into the phone.

---

After hanging up, Sam sighed and walked into the living room. Sabrina and Derek were both in there, standing awkwardly waiting for him to come back. Derek had arrived at their house while he was talking to Casey. He would have told her that he was here but she didn't give him the chance.

"You have one hell of a woman," Sam said to Derek. At Derek's protest, Sam held up his hand. "I don't want to hear it. You're staying the night here and tomorrow, we're going to see Clara," Sam had said abruptly. He no longer had the patience to beat around the bush.

"What? You found her?" Derek asked standing up.

"Your wife did," Sam replied. "Don't ask. Just be ready early tomorrow to leave," Sam said before walking towards the staircase. He then pause and turned around again. "The guest room is over there," he pointed before he went to his bedroom. Sabrina followed right behind him.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked him.

"You need to manage the store for me tomorrow and take care of Casey. It's what Casey wants."

"What she wants? Yeah right. I'm going to kick him out and tell him to get the hell back to Casey or find somewhere else to crash," Sabrina cried.

Sam gripped her wrist before she could move. "Please Sabrina; just for once listen to me. This is what Casey wants. Please," he begged.

"Fine," Sabrina finally said. She knew Sam was telling the truth. "We'll help Derek break Casey's heart. After this though, we can't be friends with him anymore. I won't stand for it."

"I know. Neither can I."

Reviews are always welcome


	8. Like We Never Loved At All

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 8: Like We Never Loved At All

Clara was tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter while biting her bottom lip. She had a mug of cold coffee beside her as she stared off into space. She was trying to wrap her mind around the conversation she had last night with Casey. Derek was coming. Just the thought made her feel nauseous. It took all her strength to break up with him but now, she practically had to have the same conversation with him. True, she was now older, a mature adult but remembering her feelings for Derek made her feel like she was once again, a nervous teenager.

Since Casey called, she had been cursing her luck. She didn't want to deal with this, she shouldn't have to. Derek was no longer the center of her world and she wanted to keep it that way. She was so scared that if she saw him, some old feelings would resurface and she didn't want that. She didn't want to feel that pain, or say something that would hurt her husband. He was her life now, and she wanted to protect her feelings as well as his.

Suddenly, a hand clamped over her fingers, stopping her nervous tapping.

"Chill," Clara's husband, Reed said. "It's just an old boyfriend."

"With a temper," she reminded him.

She had met Reed a couple relationships after Derek through a mutual friend and they immediately hit it off. He was the only person she had confided in about her relationship with Derek and how badly he damaged her. Derek was never abusive but his mood swings always scared her. When he was happy, the moments were great and she could fall in love with him but when something ticked him off - a waiter was rude to them, some guy mentioned what a great butt she had - he would lose his temper. He would never touch her in anger but he would scream at her. He never did it for long though. Out of nowhere, Casey would appear, no matter where they were, his house, the park, or at the mall, she was there, stepping in to take the heat. Clara never knew why until she ran into Casey years later. Casey explained that Derek was only happy when he was with Clara and told her that it was almost as if the old, fun, mischievous Derek was back. Casey spent all her time and energy trying to get the old Derek back. She didn't have much of a social life in her senior year, Clara remembered because she always followed them, ready to divert Derek's temper when needed.

Clara owed Casey for protecting her and so tried to always be there for Casey when Derek was in a coma. She would drop everything if Casey needed to talk for however long on the phone about things that she felt she couldn't talk to her close friends and family. Their relationship worked because Clara was like an observer. Since she lived so far away, she didn't have any say with Derek's fate. She just decided to always agree with Casey and only give her opinion if asked. Between the doctors, family and friends, Casey had enough opinions. Clara just wanted to be there for Casey.

She never pitied Casey the way that she sometimes felt her family and friends did. She was compassionate towards her but the pity would just bring Casey down. Clara was usually the one who gave her pep talks like a cheerleader captain. As Casey had doubts about if she could keep going, Clara was always there to gently push her. To remind her that she mustn't give up.

In the past two years, Clara's and Casey's friendship had grown to almost a sisterly bond. At the beginning, Clara would tell Casey about her own problems to just distract her but later on it changed. They both were leaning on each other, to give each other advice. She knew that she could never turn Casey down in her time of need even though now what Casey asked her scared the crap out of her. She didn't want to do it, but she would do it for her sister.

As she was giving herself a personal pep talk, Clara heard a car pull into her driveway and turn off. It was in the early afternoon and Clara had been sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for them since early morning. She and Reed had taken the day off, allowing one of their employees take over for the day at their flower shop. They weren't sure when Derek and Sam were going to arrive, so they made arrangements with Reed's mother to pick up their daughters after school so that if Derek lost his temper, they wouldn't hear it.

"Ready?" Reed asked her.

"Yes but please, stay here. Entertain Sam while I talk to Derek," She directed.

Casey had told her yesterday that Sam was coming with Derek and she was now thankful for him. She hoped that he and her husband would be able to occupy each other while she had the painful conversation with Derek.

"Fine I'll do as you ask, but if he raises his voice once at you-"

"I can handle him, don't worry," Clara said, pecking him on his lips just as the doorbell rang. She quickly walked over to the door and taking a deep breath, opened it, seeing the boy she once loved as a grown man.

Derek couldn't believe it. All this time he was looking for Clara and Casey knew where she was. It was just one more reason why Derek knew he needed to divorce Casey as fast as he could.

Seeing Clara now astounded him. She was a bit curvier, had blonde streaks in her muddy brown hair, a few more wrinkles around her eyes but she still was the most beautiful girl- woman - he had ever seen.

"Clara, I-"

"Hello Derek," Clara said with caution. "Um, Sam… why don't you go inside. My husband is in the kitchen. I bet you two will have lots in common."

Clara let him pass and stepped outside with Derek, closing the front door behind her. It was just the beginning of spring, but it wasn't too warm. In fact, the whether channel said that they were going to have a snowstorm that day. She decided though that they would talk outside for a bit of privacy. She knew that they probably wouldn't get much privacy because if Sam was anything like her husband, they would be discreetly looking out the front window.

"Shall we sit," Clara asked, pointing to the porch steps.

She walked over to the steps and sat, waiting for him to sit beside her. When he did, their shoulders lightly brushed. At one point in her life, this contact would have sent chills down her spine even through the clothes. She thought she was the luckiest girl when Derek Venturi had set his eyes on her. She first resisted, rejecting him because she didn't want to be a fling for him but when she finally accepted, it was so much more. She had loved him, now though, there was not even a flicker of attraction she felt for him. She was deeply in love with Reed and this realization gave her strength. She waited silently for Derek to begin and he soon spoke.

"How long have you been married?" He asked softly.

"Ten years," she replied just as soft.

"How many kids?"

"Two. Two girls."

"And do you think you can get custody of them in a divorce?"

"What?" Clara cried.

"You have to get a divorce so we can marry and I want to help raise your kids," Derek said, turning to face her. He grabbed her hands and held them in his. "I love you Clara."

Clara closed her eyes, praying that Reed would let her handle this. He promised he would, this morning but that was before Derek said this. She never thought that Derek would be this delusional. It was as if… as if he was a love struck teenager. To Clara's horror, that's what Derek was. An eighteen year old trapped in a thirty-three year old body.

"Derek," Clara said, taking her hands out of his grasps and holding herself. She had to break up with him again. As terrifying as it was the first time she did it, she was stronger now and her heart wasn't going to be broken. Only Derek's heart would be, but he broke Casey's heart, Clara reminded herself. This gave her the will to continue.

"I'm deeply in love with my husband. I'm not leaving him, I won't ever leave him. The thought has never even crossed my mind."

"What?" Derek cried, getting up and pacing on the lawn in front of her. She waited for him to calm down and speak. She knew though that he wouldn't calm down much, not unless she gave him what he wanted, something she would never do.

"What does he have that I don't have? Is he rich because Clara, I don't care if I have to work day and night to give you what you want."

"No Derek, Reed's not rich."

"Of course not, you're not that shallow. That's what I love about you. You're incredibly deep. You're kind and sweet and caring. Just tell me what he has that I don't have and I'll change, I promise."

Clara rested her head in her hands. Derek never begged yet he was doing it now. The last time he begged was when she broke up with him the first time. "Derek, I…" Clara didn't know how to finish her sentence. She looked up at him, seeing the hurt in his eyes. Oh why couldn't he remember this conversation the first time? Why couldn't he remember how she broke it off, what she told him? She asked herself. "Derek, you have a huge temper. The only one who was able to handle it was Casey."

"I don't want to talk about her. She's a lying bitch."

Clara grew angry. She stood up and walked to him. Derek thought Clara was going to kiss him at first. She always did when she was angry. She claimed that it released her tension before she came to a rational decision. Instead, she poked him in the chest.

"Well, you're going to hear what I have to say. You're not going to like it but grow up! You may have the mind of an eighteen year old but you're not even acting that old. You have tantrums like a two year old. My children are more civilized than you! You yell and scream if you don't get your way! News flash Derek, not everyone can get their way!"

"I can change. I won't yell anymore, please Clara, give us a chance," he begged quietly.

Clara closed her eyes again. No matter what she said, it wouldn't get through to him. It was like the first time. The only way he understood what she was saying was when she walked away. This was what she had to do now.

"No Derek. You don't get it. You're chasing someone who fell out of love with you a long time ago. And while you're doing it, you're pushing away the only person who truly knows how to love unconditionally."

She turned and walked up the steps and Derek ran ahead of her, stopping her before she could open the door.

"Please Clara, I'm begging."

"You're begging the wrong person," she said, pushing past him and entered the house, bringing him another memory.

_Derek was sitting on his bed, reading a comic book, glorifying that as of yesterday at the graduation, he was done with high school. "What!" he barked when a knock came on his door._

_Casey opened his door but didn't step in. "Clara's here," she said._

_Derek quickly threw down the comic book and sat on the bed. He could see Clara standing shyly behind Casey, looking a bit worried._

_"Hey," he said softly at Clara. Then glaring at Casey, he said, "You can go now."_

_Casey hesitated for a second, looking at Clara and nodded. She walked to her room but kept the door open, listening intently to Derek's voice to be ready to step in and protect Clara._

_"Come in," he said to her._

_Clara shook her head. "Let's sit on the steps," she said pointing to the staircase._

_Derek nodded, smiling a bit. Clara was always so innocent; she never once wanted to be alone with him in his room. He thought she just wasn't ready to take their relationship to the next step but really, she was afraid Casey wouldn't be able to hear them._

_Clara walked and sat at the top step, nervously twisting her fingers together and biting her bottom lip. Derek sat next to her, brushing his shoulders with hers. Clara felt a tingle go through her because of the contact but quickly told herself to get a grip. She knew she had to do this for weeks but didn't want to stress Derek out so close to exams and graduation, so she waited until everything was done. She spent the entire morning convincing herself to do this and it was too late to back out now, she would never forgive herself if she didn't do this in person._

_"So what's up?" Derek asked lightly when Clara didn't speak._

_She was nervous. She planned to talk to Derek at the park for privacy but when she learned that no one but Derek and Casey were home, she changed her plans. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "Derek I'm sorry."_

_"About what?" he said cautiously._

_"I can't do this anymore," she replied in the same whisper._

_"Do what?"_

_"This, us," she clarified. She could tell by how he tensed up that he understood and she waited for the blow-up and she wasn't disappointed._

_"What! What are you talking about! Is it because we are going to be schooling in different cities? I told you Clara that we'll make it work and if we can't handle it, I'll quit school to be here with you."_

_"No Derek, I haven't been happy in this relationship for months."_

_"Months? Months! What the hell Clara, why didn't you talk to me about it!" he demanded._

_"Because you would have acted like this! You would have been convinced that it was my fault because you're perfectly happy. I can't handle this anymore," Clara said a little louder now. She didn't shout though. She could never raise her voice._

_"What can't you handle it? Just tell me Clara what I'm doing wrong and I'll change, I promise," he said, grasping her hands._

_Clara laughed a humourless laugh while pulling her hands free. "Derek, we've been having the same conversation for like the fifth time now. I tell you I can't handle your temper and you claim that you can change and I believe you. I stay in this relationship that is literally killing me inside. I have nothing left to give you, to fight for us. It shouldn't be like this. This isn't a healthy relationship. I'm done, I'm sorry," Clara said  
standing. She rushed down the stairs and Derek chased after her. Before she could make it out the door, Derek blocked her. He grabbed her shoulders to stop her._

_"Please Clara, give me another chance, give us a chance," Derek begged._

_"I can't Derek, I'm sorry, but I can't," Clara said, pushing past him, leaving the house, and closing the door behind her._

_Derek stood there for a second, stunned because the one girl he loved was the one girl who dumped him. He then turned towards the stairs, planning to hide in his room. Clara had ripped out his heart and crushed it and all he wanted to do was wallow by himself. Placing a foot on the steps, he looked up seeing Casey standing at the top of them. He knew that she had heard everything. He could see her guilt on her face._

_"Derek, I'm so sorry," Casey whispered._

_"Sure you are. I bet you're happy, waiting privately to gloat in my misery," he said while walking up the stairs._

_"Derek, I don't know why you always think the worst of me but I'm here for you. We're siblings, it's our job to be here for one another."_

_Derek stopped when he reached the same step as her. His height toppled over her and he always used it to try to intimidate her. "Correction: step-siblings. It's not our job to protect each other and don't you forget it. I'll never be there for you, got it? So, you can just go back into your room, hide in your books and pray that maybe one day you will be able to catch a poor sucker to drag you down the aisle. Don't count on it though," he  
said patting her cheek before he went to his room slamming his bedroom door behind him._

_"I'm still here for you," Casey called._

_Derek heard her go to her room and close her door but he couldn't for the life of him understand why Casey said that. He didn't care though, he lost the only person he loved and vowed that he would never love anyone else._

Sam walked onto the porch, breaking Derek's thoughts. "You okay man?" he asked Derek, touching his shoulder.

"Yeah fine. Let's get out of here."

Sam nodded and they left as snowflakes began to fall.

"Hey, Sam, do you mind if I drive? I really need to take my mind off things."

Sam tossed him the keys without another word since he heard the entire conversation between Derek and Clara. He figured that he would talk to Derek after Derek had a chance to think.

---

It was just past five and Sam and Derek were still on the highway. There was a huge accident that slowed down traffic to a mere crawl for an hour. Soon after, the weather worsened drastically. Instead of just a few snowflakes when they left, they were now in a tremendous snowstorm. Neither one broke the silence until they reached London and Sam knew that they had to talk about it.

"So what now?" he asked Derek.

"What?" Derek questioned him.

"What are you going to do now? Your search for Clara is done, she isn't leaving her husband. What are you going to do now?"

"I was hoping that I could crash at your place until I found a place of my own and divorce Casey," Derek replied, not taking his eyes off the treacherous road as they entered London's city limits.

He was surprised when he heard Sam smack the dashboard. "Damn it Derek!"

"What!" Derek asked.

"When are you ever going to grow up! Did you hear a thing that Clara told you! You have a wife and children waiting for you to come home. Casey has been there for you ever since Clara dumped you. Yet you keep trying to push her away! Why can't you ever accept that at one time in your life, you loved Casey enough to marry her! Till death do you part and all that crap! You have never even tried to get to know her! What do you have to say?" he finally asked when Derek didn't say anything.

"I take you've chosen Casey's side, like always. Your wife has you whipped good Sam."

"Damn you Derek! Why can't you stop taking jabs and try to have an adult conversation! You know what, I give up. I can't do this anymore. You keep pushing everyone away and soon you will be alone, trying to remember the good times with Clara! You know what, she doesn't want you and I can't even understand why Casey would. I sure as hell don't want to be your friend!"

At this point, they were close to a mall. Derek pulled the car to the side of the road, clutching the wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white. "Get out!" he screamed.

"What the hell Derek! This is my car!"

"I said, GET OUT!" he screamed again.

"Fine, consider this a goodbye present!" Sam retorted as he climbed out of the car. He barely had time to jump out of the way before Derek drove away. Since the snow was still coming in full force, Sam quickly walked into the mall and found a pay phone to tell his wife that he had failed Casey.

Reviews are always welcome


	9. Breathing Space

disclaimer: I owe nothing

Chapter 9: Breathing Space

Casey was scrubbing the same plate for the past ten minutes. She had spent the entire day trying to ignore her emotions. She cleaned, grocery shopped, did the laundry, and cooked an extravagant dinner - basically did anything that took up her time.

Now though, doing the dishes while her children silently played in the next room allowed her fears to creep up on her. The only thing that kept her from having an anxiety attack was that Sam was with Derek.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, breaking her thoughts. Casey dropped the plate back into the hot water, wiped her hands on her jeans and raced to the door. Looking first through the peephole, she then threw the door open. Standing on the other side was Sabrina, Sam, and their children.

"Where's Derek?" Casey demanded in a whisper.

She knew before either spoke that something was terribly wrong. She stepped aside to let them in but couldn't close the door. She felt that if she just kept it open longer, Derek would appear.

"Let's talk in the kitchen," Sam said gently, snapping Casey out of her trance. She nodded, closed the door against the terrible cold wind and walked into the kitchen, closing those doors also to keep the discussion away from the children.

"Where's Derek?" she asked again.

Sabrina and Sam shared a look, both not knowing how to begin.

"Maybe you should sit down. I'll make some tea," Sabrina said.

Casey slowly sat down at the table. "Tell me. Where's Derek?"

"We… don't know," Sam replied reluctantly.

"What do you mean 'don't know'?" Casey questioned.

Sam sighed. "When we went to see Clara, Derek asked her to basically run away with him. At her rejection, we left. He was driving as the snowstorm began. It took us longer to get here due to the snow and the accident on the highway. When we had reached London, we got into an argument over you and Clara and he was his classic pig-headed self. As a result, he kicked me out of my own car."

"And now he's somewhere driving in this storm?" Casey asked calmly.

"Yeah Casey, I'm sorry but you should have heard the things he said. I just couldn't take it anymore."

"We should all just forget about him and move forward," Sabrina put in, handing Casey some tea.

Casey stared at two of her closest friends. She placed the tea down and stood up. "Forget about him?" she asked, stunned at their advice. "I can't forget him anymore than I can forget to breathe. I love him as much as you love each other and I can't just shut it off. It killed me to tell you where Clara was but I did it because I want Derek to be happy no matter where he is or whom he's with. And I gave you only one job Sam, only one. All you had to do was take him to see Clara and bring him back safely and you failed. God Sam, you're the adult! Derek is still eighteen, a reckless eighteen year old, driving in a snowstorm. For all I know, he could be lying in a ditch dying and you two just stand there and advise me to just forget about him. Just like that!" she said to them.

"He wants to divorce you. I'm sorry Casey, I really am," Sam said.

A silence fell upon the three adults while Casey absorbed the information. She felt like she wanted to die inside but knew that she had to keep moving forward. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is finding Derek before he kills someone or himself. We can talk about the end of marriages later. We need to call everyone we know to help with the search," she instructed, trying to push her emotions away so that they wouldn't swallow her, bringing her into complete agony.

---

The search was terrible, Edwin concluded. Since the moment that Casey had phoned him, he had been looking for Derek. They tried everywhere they could think that an eighteen-year-old Derek would go. It was just past seven in the morning and Edwin had spent the entire night trying to find Derek. He only once returned to Casey's house to get more coffee but resolved not to go back until Derek was found because of how Casey looked. She was expecting the worst of the situation and she looked like she aged twenty years in those few hours.

He had offered to take her children for the next day for a sleepover in case they hadn't found Derek or had. He figured either way, Casey wouldn't be up to taking care of her children.

Edwin slammed his hands on the steering wheel when he reached a red traffic light. He'd already passed this light five times trying to find any sign of Derek. The only good thing about this situation was that around five in the morning, it stopped snowing. He angrily punched in Casey's home phone number into his cell, hoping that he could end his search. It was answered on the second ring.

"Hello?" Lizzie asked eagerly.

"Hey Liz. Any progress?"

Lizzie sighed. "No, none."

"Damn! I've been all around London at least twenty times not to mention the rest of our family and Casey's friends. Where the hell can he be?"

"I don't know. We've checked the malls, restaurants, heck even Casey's cop friend is helping. He's either driving or hiding outside of London."

"Brainstorm with me Lizzie. Remember when we use to do research on our siblings."

"You mean spy."

"Yes, spy, whatever. Where would Derek usually go?"

"The mall or his job."

"Yes, but where could he go that would be secluded enough yet open for Derek to be in the wee hours of the morning?"

Both stepsibling seemed to have the same idea at once.

"The park!" they both cried in unison.

"I'm going to check it out. I'll call if I have anymore information. Ed out," he said, closing his cell phone and speeding to the park, feeling stupid that he forgot.

He reached the park in no time and recognized Sam's car in the description that he gave. Pulling up aside it, he saw Derek on the swing, staring at his shoes. Edwin quickly walked to him, sitting on the swing beside him.

"Hey," Edwin said.

"Hey."

"So, would you like to tell me why you and Sam got into a fight and then decided to spend the night in a park or do you just intend to stare at your shoes for all the answers?"

"Clara doesn't want me," Derek confessed.

"Those are the brakes kid. Sometimes people love something that they can't have. I love peanut butter but I had to give it up when my oldest developed an allergy to it."

Derek looked up from the ground, amazed at how much older Edwin looked from the Edwin in his memories. "Were we close before I was shot?" he asked.

"Well, after you started dating Casey. You changed into someone that I admired and our relationship, in fact every member of the family's relationship with you turned out great."

Derek scoffed. "So you're on team Casey too. I hate how everyone keeps telling me how amazing she is, as if she's a saint. Everyone thinks she's perfect."

Edwin surprised Derek by laughing. "We don't think she's perfect Derek. Far from it."

"Could've fooled me," Derek muttered.

"Did you know that Casey slapped Lizzie once? Right across the face in dad and Nora's kitchen," Edwin told.

Derek looked at him, wanting to know more. "Why?"

"Well, this was back when you were first in a coma. In those first couple of months, Casey tried to do everything herself. Ben had terrible colic and only slept at maybe an hour at a time and never during the night. Therefore, Casey didn't get much sleep herself. Usually when Ben was sleeping, she would clean, cook, grocery shop, play with Lily and Ella, etc. She looked like a zombie but whenever anyone offered to help her, she always said no.

"It got so bad that when Marti once went over and walked into the living room, Casey was asleep even though Ben was screaming in her arms and the girls were having tantrums, fighting over a toy. The noise was deafening yet Casey didn't wake up because she was just so exhausted. Even then, Casey denied that she needed help. All of us walked into scenes like that and Lizzie and Casey got into an argument about it when we were all over at dad and Nora's house. Casey was angry, stubborn, sleep deprived and Lizzie said some insulting things that she lashed out without thinking and slapped Lizzie."

"What did Lizzie do?"

"You know Lizzie, a no-nonsense girl. She slapped her right back and said 'good, now that we have that cleared, I'm coming over tomorrow to take the kids while you sleep. If I find out that you did something besides sleep, I'm going to drug your drink with sleeping pills the next time.' Casey replied 'trust me, I don't need the sleeping pills,'" Edwin finished the story.

"That's just one of the events that Casey's stubbornness had gotten in her way from seeing reason," Edwin continued. "Her stubbornness is just one of her vices that stops her from being perfect. A few others are that she doesn't have much of a backbone around you. She tries to be emotionally detached from the world even though it never works. She never ever complains anymore. She could be bleeding to death and would try to convince people that she was fine. With these vices though come virtues. If Casey wasn't stubborn, then Derek, you wouldn't be here. She fought with everyone to keep you alive. No matter what we said, that you would probably never wake up, that she needs to let go and move on, Casey didn't care. She kept you alive. You owe her your life Derek. Don't you think that you should at least care about her?"

"I do care about her. I stopped her form being raped. Stopped her from getting hurt."

"Physically yes, but emotionally, think how much you're hurting her."

Derek ran his hands through his hair. "Were you always this philosophical?"

"Not really. What can I say? You bring out the lectures from me."

"I'm getting lectures from my fifteen year old brother," Derek laughed.

"Thirty. I'm thirty Derek. But hey, who's counting?"

Both chuckled at the comment. "Well, I guess we should go."

"As long as we go to Casey's, I'm all for it."

"Sure, we'll go," Derek said, not knowing where else he would go at the moment.

"I'll follow behind you," Edwin said as they both got up and walked to their cars.

What they both failed to notice though was a lone car, parked down the street, watching them. The driver banged his hands on the wheel. If he had only gotten here sooner, he could have killed Derek and made it look like an accident. Unfortunately, Edwin had found him first.

---

"Here Casey, drink some tea," Sabrina said, holding the teacup.

Casey shook her head. "I don't want any," she replied.

Casey hadn't eaten or drank or slept since the day before. She could barely function because she was so worried. She wanted to help with the search but everyone said no. So, she settled for sitting on the couch, waiting for someone to find Derek.

"Come on, you have to drink something," Sabrina urged.

"Where are my children?" Casey asked, realizing that they would be up by now.

Sabrina sighed, placing the tea on the coffee table and sitting beside her, grabbing her hand. Sam sat on the other side of Casey, holding her other hand. "In the kitchen, eating breakfast with my children and Anna," Sabrina told her.

Casey nodded, slightly detached from the world. She looked up at Emily, who looked very uncomfortable. She didn't know what to do. Emily wanted to help Casey but didn't know any words to reassure her.

"Hey Em," Casey said.

Emily looked up from her pacing. "Yeah?"

"What are your plans for tonight? I mean, if Derek is found," Casey asked, needing a little bit of a distraction.

"Well, Darrin and I were going to see a play. We're celebrating our month anniversary. We do it every month on the fifteenth."

"You excited?"

"Yeah, really excited. I never had such a long relationship."

Casey nodded. "I'm happy for you," she said giving her a sad smile before she resumed to silence.

She glanced around, seeing who was here and who was out searching. She faintly acknowledged that Lizzie was by the TV talking quietly to Jim who was called when Derek had been missing for a few hours. Jim couldn't do much because Derek had to be missing for forty-eight hours before the police could get involved but he was trying unofficially to help. Besides Emily pacing, her sister and Jim talking and Sam and Sabrina sitting beside her, no one else was in the living room

Casey looked up when she heard the front door open and gasped, so grateful that he was here. Derek had come home.

"Derek," she whispered.

Derek couldn't believe what he was seeing. Casey looked like she went through hell. Her eyes were bloodshot with deep circles around them. She looked so fragile; her hair was in different places and make-up smeared. Derek realized that what Edwin said was true. She cared about him so much that she had gone through agony while he sat in the park. For once, he felt guilty.

His mind registered that everyone was silent from Sam and Sabrina sitting on the couch with Casey, to Lizzie, Jim, and Emily standing in the room and Anna, who was standing in the kitchen. Judging by the sounds in the kitchen, he figured that she was taking care of the children. Even Edwin, who came behind him said nothing.

"Well, nice of you to show up," Sam said breaking the silence. "You have no idea how badly I want to hurt you," he continued, stalking over to him, his fists clenched, ready to attack.

"Sam, don't," Casey whispered, standing up.

Derek's guilt grew. She sounded like she didn't have the strength to even fight anymore. He realized that he caused this. He broke Casey. He didn't love her but for the first time, he cared about her. Really actually cared about her. He watched Sam lift up his fist slowly but then dropped it, sighing, defeated too.

"Well if you're not going to do it, I will!" Sabrina said, walking over to Derek. Before anyone had time to move, Sabrina slapped him.

Sam quickly moved in front of Sabrina in case Derek lost his temper, but it wasn't needed. Derek was no longer angry but depressed.

"You call that a slap?" Anna asked stomping over. She raised her hand and hit Derek with all the strength she could muster. "Now that's a slap," she declared.

Derek still remained immobile. They could have beaten him to death and he wouldn't have moved.

"That's enough," Casey said in a normal voice, sensing that Lizzie was ready to slap Derek too. "I think it's time for everyone to leave. I'm sure Derek is tired. Edwin, you're still taking my children for a sleepover after school, right?"

Edwin nodded and everyone began to pile out. First Edwin and Casey's children, though no child even acknowledged Derek. Each just gave Casey a hug before running outside. The other followed assuring Casey that they'd spread the news of Derek's return, though Sam and Sabrina hesitated.

"Go, please," she said quietly. They both nodded and left with their children, leaving Derek standing in the hallway and Casey standing near the couch. She was the first to speak. "You need ice for your cheek," she said, walking into the kitchen. Derek followed her, sitting at the table.

"Casey, I'm sorry that I gave you such a terrible scare. I didn't realize," Derek said.

Casey had her back facing him as she placed ice cubes onto a towel. Tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them drop. "It's all right Derek. You couldn't have known," she replied.

"The thing is though, I do care about you, Casey, but I don't love you, I'm sorry. I would like a divorce."

Casey nodded, walking over to him. Her heart was shattering inside but she refused to let him see her tears. She knelt in front of him, holding his face in her hands, using the ice as an excuse to actually touch him. She looked directly into his eyes before she spoke.

"If that is truly what you want, then I'll give it to you," she whispered.

Only Derek didn't hear her. Seeing her kneeling in front of him brought back another memory. He recognized this scene as the night that Casey was almost raped.

_Derek opened Casey's dorm door, ushering her inside. He turned on the light and Casey went to her closet, putting on a sweater over top of her torn one while Derek went to her mini-fridge and pulled out a cold pack. She sat on her bed while he sat beside her, placing the cold pack gently on her cheek. She winced at the cold, sucking a quick breath._

_"Sorry," Derek said._

_"It's all right," she said quietly._

_There was a brief pause. They both felt somewhat relaxed with the silence. Casey though knew she may never get this chance again and decided to take it._

_"Derek, can I ask you something?"_

_"Sure, shoot," he replied._

_"Well… when I first met you, you were annoying but fun-loving. Then last year, you would explode at the drop of a hat. Literally, Edwin dropped your hat and you screamed at him. What I want to know, is what happened to make you hate the world?" Casey questioned tentatively unsure of Derek's reaction._

_Derek didn't know at first either but decided to let Casey in on his deepest kept secret. "I found out that my mom cheated on my dad when they were first married," he told._

_"I'm sorry Derek," Casey said, trying to understand the betrayal that he felt._

_"That's not all of it. One day, I overheard a conversation with my mom and dad. They were having an argument because the man that she had an affair with wanted to meet me. Now I began to wonder why this man would want to meet me, just me, not Edwin and Marti too. I realized that maybe I wasn't George's son. Maybe I was this man's. I got a paternity test, secretly taking some of dad's hair and my own. Turns out, I'm not his son. All these years, I've been living a lie." He dropped the bombshell and turned away from Casey, unable to face her._

_"Oh Derek," Casey said, turning to him. He wouldn't look at her. He was hurting too much. Casey knelt before him, holding his head between her hands._

_"Look at me," she commanded. He stared into her eyes, waiting for her to continue._

_"Is this why you've been so angry? Why you've been using your temper to punish everyone, because George isn't your father?"_

_"He lied to me. I can't forgive him for something so horrible."_

_"But don't you see? He probably lied because he was afraid that you wouldn't love him. That you would turn away form him and I know George loves you so much that he couldn't bear that."_

_"How do you know that he loves me? I'm not his kid."_

_"This stranger may be your biological father but George is the one who raised you, who loves you. I know he loves you because he puts up with you. All your schemes and pranks. Even after all those tantrums, he's stayed with you. Everyone in our family has because they love you."_

_"Really? Do you love me Casey?"_

_Casey paused, biting her lip before she spoke. "I love you more than you probably want to know."_

_Derek leaned in slowly and brushed his lips against hers. At first it was gentle but Derek suddenly felt the need to kiss her, hold her, love her. They finally broke apart only when they needed air. Derek began to trail kisses down her jaw, neck, and collarbone._

_"I hope you mean that in a non-sibling way," he murmured in between the kisses._

_"Most definitely," she whispered.  
_  
As suddenly as that memory had surfaced, more flashed into his head.

_"Dad, I love you, you're my father, no one else," Derek said as George hugged him…  
_

_FLASH_

_"You two are dating! Holy Hell!" Edwin cried…_

_FLASH_

_"It's okay if I never play hockey again. It might be a good thing. I'm enjoying my business classes more and more," Derek told Casey…_

_FLASH_

_"Of course I'll marry you Derek! Of course!" Casey choked out through tears…_

_FLASH_

_"Derek, I'm pregnant, you shouldn't be spinning me around!" Casey exclaimed…_

_FLASH_

_"You're pregnant again! I'm totally a stud!" Derek laughed…_

_FLASH_

_"I can't believe we own our own business!" Sam cried…_

_FLASH_

_"Happy birthday Derek!" a chorus cheered…_

_FLASH_

_"Casey, I love you."_

_"I love you too Derek."…  
_  
The memories kept coming. Not all in order and there were still some blank holes but enough resurfaced. Derek stared at Casey, with a new realization in his eyes: his wife, his love, his life. He saw the pain that Casey endured by loving him so much.

"Oh Casey," he said resting his forehead against hers. "What have I done?" He pulled away, standing up and bringing her up with him. "What have I done?" he whispered again, hugging her.

Casey pulled back, looking at him, complete wonder in her eyes. "Derek, is it really you, are you back?" she asked too scared to hope.

"Not all of my memory, but, baby, I'm back."

Casey drew back to look at him. They shared a smile for a second and then she slapped him.

"Ow!" Derek cried. "What was that for?"

"For asking for a divorce. Do you have any idea how much that was killing me inside? You jerk!" she shouted, smacking his chest.

Derek grabbed her shoulders and kissed her, stopping her from trying to fight him. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll never ask for it again. I'll never let you go. I love you too much," he said, brushing his knuckles along her cheek. "I know it'll take a while for you to forgive me but I'm willing to do anything to make it up to you. First though, you probably need food," he said, releasing his hold on her and walking to the refrigerator.

"Actually, I'd rather just go to sleep on a real bed, not the couch," Casey replied.

Derek turned to her, grinning and picked her up, bridal-style. "Babe, I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, leading her to the master bedroom while kissing her. They broke apart when they reached the threshold of the room.

"Derek, I meant actual sleep in a bed, not sex," she clarified.

"Well, now," Derek said, deep in thought. "If you think about it, I've done enough sleep for the both of us for the past five years, I think it's time to make up for some things," he replied before placing her on the bed and climbing on top of her.

---

Casey woke up for the first time in five years with a smile on her face. She reached across the bed and only popped her eyes open when all she felt was sheets. Derek wasn't lying beside her. She lifted her head, wondering if it had all been a dream. She began to panic a bit, only to stop when Derek walked in, holding a tray with food on it.

He grinned, looking at her face. He almost smacked himself when she smiled back. How could he have wanted something that wasn't Casey? "I made breakfast," he said, sitting on the bed.

Casey sat up, pulling up the sheets with her to cover her naked body. She felt slightly vulnerable, seeing Derek with pants on when she had nothing. She glanced at the clock then smiled back at him.

"Derek, it's nine o'clock at night, I think this is called a late dinner."

"Well, whatever it is, just eat. I don't know about you but after all the activity we did today, I'm famished," he grinned.

Casey grinned back. "I should say so. Five years of celibacy has been quite a drag."

"You never… you know… had a lover when I was in a coma?" Derek asked her.

Casey put down the toast that she had just bitten. "Derek, of course not. How could you even question that?" she asked him. "I love you."

"Well, sometimes sex and love are separate," he stated uncertainly.

"I wouldn't want to make love with anyone but you and that's what I want sex to be, making love and only with you," she interrupted, picking up her toast again.

She hadn't realized until then that she was starving. They ate all the food in silence. Casey was too hungry to talk and Derek was too pensive to talk.

"Hey Casey…" Derek began.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Remember when Detective Waters told you that I had a memory of the day I was shot."

"Yeah?"

"Well, the shooter said something that I didn't know what he meant. When I told the detective, he advised me to ask friends and family members about it but I was too much of an ass back then to ask you for help."

"Uh-huh," Casey pushed when he paused. "What did he say?"

"I asked him what he wanted, expecting him to want money but he replied, 'the death of your daisy,'" he finished.

He looked over at Casey and saw that he had completely frozen. She looked like she wasn't staring at him but through him.

"Case? Casey?" he asked, slightly shaking her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Derek," she paused, now looking at him. "I know who tried to kill you," she declared.

Reviews are always welcome


	10. Where Does The Good Go?

disclaimer: I owe nothing.

Chapter 10: Where Does The Good Go?

After what Casey claimed, they both fell in silence. Both were stunned at her words.

"What? How could… Who? Who tried to kill me?" Derek asked her.

"What I mean is I think I know. I'm not certain but it can't be what I'm thinking. Why would they?" she mumbled to herself.

"Casey, think out loud please. Tell me why you think you know," he directed.

"Well… Derek, after we started dating, my friends became your friends and vice versa. From that, we had four close friends, the same ones we have today: Sam, Sabrina, Anna, and Darrin."

Derek nodded. "Uh-huh," he said, more confused than ever. He couldn't see the connection.

"Anyways, Anna dated the way you did in high school. She had short-term relationships like you wouldn't believe. It became difficult to keep track and remember all their names. Sabrina came up with an idea to mesh Anna's name and whomever she was dating at the time together. We kept this naming system for about a year and during that time, Anna began to catch on. In order to kind of push her off the scent that we were teasing her, we came up with names for ourselves too. Darrin was dating a girl named Molly so we called them Dolly. It was hard for Sam and Sabrina, both names start with a 's' so we called them D.S., short for double s'es. Our combined name Derek, was Dasey. D, A, S, E, Y. Dasey. He wanted the death of your Dasey. Us, the death of us," Casey explained.

"Oh shit," Derek uttered. "Who knew about that name? Who called us that?" he asked.

"Only our close friends. It was like a phase, we only called each other that for about a year."

"How many people knew that name?"

"Only me, you, Sam, Sabrina, Anna, and Darrin. Only us," she said.

"Then you're saying that one of our friends tried to kill me."

"No!" Casey cried. "It doesn't make sense. They're our friends. We've known them for years. They would never try to hurt us."

Derek grabbed Casey's hand and looked at her. "Casey, it has to be. What else could 'the death of your Dasey' mean?"

Casey pulled her hands out of Derek's, wanting to just hold herself. She couldn't believe what was happening. "I don't know. It's just… if it's one of them, I've let a murderer into my house, around our children. I just can't see one of our friends doing this. Any one of them. I can't see it."

"Well, let's try to think rationally. Let's look at them one at a time and where they were that day. Sabrina first. Where was she?" Derek asked Casey.

Casey immediately shook her head. "Both she and Anna were with me. They were there when Sam called me to tell…" she chocked, having to pause. Derek squeezed her hand, reminding her that the horror that day was long gone. "To tell me that you were shot," she finished.

"Neither left for maybe a half an hour? To get food or something?" he asked.

"No."

"Okay, Sam."

"Derek, he's your childhood best friend. You can't think that he would-"

"We have to look at each of them. One of them has betrayed us. Sam left seconds before the shooter came in, claiming that he had doughnuts in the car. He could have changed his clothes quickly, put on a mask and disguise his voice-"

"No Derek. Jim showed me the security tapes when you were first in a coma. A store across the street had a tape showing the street in front of your store. We watched Sam go to his car and grab the doughnuts while the shooter went inside."

"Well, that leaves Darrin."

"No, he called me minutes before, asking me about the pregnancy. He couldn't… no human could have called a wife if he was planning to kill the husband seconds later. Besides, how could he have known that you were at the store?"

"He called."

"What?"

"Seconds before it happened, but he didn't call me on my cell like he usually did but on the store phone. Why would he do that?"

"But why would he want to kill you? He has always been there for me when you were in a coma, always around to help-"

"Damn it!" Derek said, standing up and pacing, the pieces were falling together.

"What?"

"'The death of your Dasey. Derek and Darrin both start with a 'D'. If I died and you got together with Darrin, it would still be Dasey. It all makes sense. He's obsessed with you."

"No, that's insane! It can't be that… Oh God," Casey said in horror, realizing what had been staring her in the face all along. "Oh why didn't I see it?" she demanded.

"What?"

"Every girl he's dated had some sort of resemblance to me. I just didn't ever consciously note it. Even Molly back in university had the same body shape as me."

"Well he's dating Emily and you two certainly do not look the same."

"Oh my God, Emily! They're out tonight! I have to get her away from him! Phone Jim Derek and I'll contact Emily!" she directed, grabbing her cell phone.

---

"Here you go," Darrin said, opening his front door and allowing Emily to walk in first. "Make yourself at home, I just need to use the restroom," he finished, placing his wallet, car keys, and cell phone on the table in the foyer.

Emily nodded, having been over at his house many times before. When he closed the washroom door, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her purse. She opened up her purse, searching for her cell phone. When she pulled it out, her lip gloss fell and rolled under a door connecting to another room.

"Shit," Emily said then looked at her phone and saw that it was Casey but she missed the call.

Placing her phone on the table beside Darrin's she decided to retrieve her lip gloss before calling Casey because the door that it went under was a room that Darrin didn't want her to see. He claimed that it was work related business and would bore her but she figured that the reason was really that some stuff was confidential. Not wanting to make him angry on their anniversary, she quickly opened the door, turned on the light to find her lip gloss but stopped in her tracks.

All around the room were pictures of Casey. Some she posed for while others were like what a paparazzi or stalker would take. The pictures that had Casey with Derek together, Derek's face was covered with Darrin's.

"Holy Mother of pearl!" Emily whispered.

She knew that she had to tell Casey. Running out of the room, she left the light on and the door wide open. Panicking, she grabbed the first cell phone she saw, picking up Darrin's and scrolled down on the program numbers. She couldn't really focus because she was shocked at what she saw. Hearing a door open, Emily pressed the send button just as she saw Darrin stepping into the hallway. Emily hid the phone behind her back, hoping that whomever she called would pick up and realize that she was in trouble.

Recognition sparked in Darrin's eyes when he saw the terror in hers and the door open to his study.

"So, you know my big secret now," Darrin said calmly, walking towards her.

"Get back Darrin!" she screamed. "You're sick! You're the one who shot Derek!"

"Of course. Casey married him and it didn't look like she would leave him so I was giving her a light push," he said, still walking towards her as Emily backed up against the wall. "I can't have you ruin things though."

Before Emily could react, Darrin grabbed a picture frame and slammed it over her head. With only a slight scream, Emily went unconscious, falling to the ground as she dropped the cell phone. Darrin calmly checked to make sure Emily was still breathing when he realized that Emily had called someone. He started to panic a bit as he picked up the cell phone.

He pressed redial and heard Anna's voice talk as the answering machine on her cell phone pick up. He knew that he had to get his hands on that cell phone and delete that message.

He glanced at the clock, remembering what day of the week it was and knew that Anna was working at the dance studio tonight and that it was almost time for her to lock up. Looking down at Emily, he formed a plan.

For a brief second he wondered why Emily used his cell phone and not her own and searched for hers. Picking it off the table, he discovered that she had a message. He pressed the button to listen to it and Casey's urgent voice filled his ear.

"Emily! Listen to me, Darrin was the one who tried to kill Derek. I'll explain the details later but you need to get away from him! Come to my house as quickly as you can! Derek called the police and they'll be looking for him! Emily, please, get away from him! Call me!" the message finished and Darrin stood up.

So it didn't matter anymore if Anna heard the message. Now what only mattered was to get Casey and he knew exactly how was going to do it. Emily and Anna were going to help him. Reformulating his plan, he grabbed his car keys, gun, and duct tape. Pulling Emily into his arms, he left the house, and drove to the dance studio.

---

Anna turned off the last light and stepped outside, the door automatically locking behind her. She then reached into her purse, looking for her car keys and realized that she left them inside while accidentally locked herself out of the studio.

"Aw crap," Anna said, pulling out her cell phone. She called Sabrina, knowing that with a day like Casey's, she wouldn't be up to drive over.

"Hey Sabrina," Anna said when the phone was picked up. "I managed to lock myself out of the studio with my car keys are still inside."

Sabrina laughed. "Really Anna, this is like the third time in two months."

"I know, I know."

"I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"I'll be here."

Like she said, Sabrina appeared a couple minutes later, parking her car next to hers and climbed out. While Anna was waiting though, she was bored and scrolled through her messages, realizing that she had one, she pressed it as Sabrina walked over to her. Horrified at hearing the conversation between Emily and Darrin, Anna turned to Sabrina just as she opened the door.

"Sabrina, listen to this," she said, replaying the message.

"Oh my…" Sabrina let out in disbelief.

"What do you think happened?" she asked.

"I could tell you two and put you out of your misery at guessing unless you want to speculate first," a voice behind them said.

They both jumped, knowing who was behind them. As they faced him, they saw him pointing a gun at them.

"Stay calm and everything will be fine," he said.

He pulled Emily out of the car who was still unconscious. She had duct tape on her mouth, and her hands and ankles were taped together. He tossed her to Anna and Sabrina, who both caught her, trying to hold her up.

"Now, slowly go inside," he ordered.

What seemed like hours but probably only minutes, Darrin had duct taped Anna and Sabrina to match Emily and put them into the bathroom floor that was connected to the largest dance studio. He took their cell phones and car keys.

"Now, I'm going to move your vehicles and I'll be back. If you aren't exactly where you are when I get back, I'll shoot one of you," he said as Emily was waking up. Before any of them could react, he closed the door, leaving the three of them in the dark.

---

"Hi, you have reached 555-2461, leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can," Emily voice sang in Casey's ear.

"Damn!" she said, closing her phone.

She kept calling Emily practically every five minutes with no luck. She was sitting on her couch in the living room, much like she had the night before. Only this time, there were cops in the living room, including Jim, trying to get as much information on Darrin. They were having a hard time finding him and figured he must have realized that they were on to him.

After Derek called, Jim got one of the detectives to do a background search on Darrin, to see if he had any prior convictions. It was then that they found out that Darrin changed his name before he went to university and his mother and stepfather had put a restraining order on him. There was speculation that he killed his stepsister who he had been obsessed with and was remarkably named Casey. He was never charged though because the police never found the gun that killed her.

Upon gaining this information, they were able to get a warrant and upon searching his house, they discovered the pictures and detailed notes on Casey, leading them to conclude that he viewed Casey as his stepsister. The only thing missing was the gun.

"Does he have any friends that would hide him?" Jim asked Casey.

She shook her head, too stunned at what Jim had told her. All these years, Darrin was obsessing over her because he believed that she was someone else. She also mentally kicked herself because if she once realized how little knowledge that she had on Darrin and how he acted towards her, they might not be in this situation now.

Before Jim could ask another question, Sam burst into the room. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, walking over to Casey. "What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"No man, I got my memory back, well most. I remember that I love Casey," Derek said, coming into the living room.

Sam glanced at Derek and Casey and saw look they shared. They looked sickeningly like  
newlyweds. "And you're just gonna take him back? Man, Sabrina is going to kill you," he said.

"Sam, what are you doing here? How did you know we called the police?" Casey asked, changing the subject. No reporter had caught wind of this yet, and they wanted to keep it that way, afraid that Darrin would panic if he saw the story on the news.

"I didn't. I came to ask for your help. Sabrina's missing. Anna called a while ago because she locked herself outside of the studio with her keys inside again. Sabrina went to open the door and that was over an hour ago. I tried calling her and she won't answer but you know how she is with her cell phone, it probably died. I tried Anna's but she didn't pick up either her cell or home phone. I then drove by the studio and no one is there, no car, nothing. After I dropped the kids at my parent's house, I came here, hoping that you knew something."

"No Sam, I haven't talked to either Sabrina or Anna since this morning. In fact, we're looking for Darrin and Emily," Casey replied.

"Darrin and Emily are missing too?" Sam asked, now completely confused.

As Derek began informing Sam on Darrin, Casey's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, standing up and walking towards the window.

"Casey, I want you to stay calm and do exactly what I tell you to do unless you want your friends to die. Now don't let anyone know that you're talking to me," Darrin said into the phone.

Casey quickly swivelled around and faced the window so the no one would see the look of pure horror on her face. "Hi Anna," she said trying to sound indifferent. She heard all talking stop behind her but she didn't turn.

"Good. Now you must make up some reason to get down to your dance studio alone as fast as you can. If I see one other person around here, I'll shoot either Emily, Anna, or Sabrina. Personally, Anna would be the first to go, she always had a way to piss me off. Although, maybe Emily, she caused me so much trouble phoning for help. Then again, Sabrina has children. Wouldn't it be fun to leave two small children motherless?"

"You and Jason had a fight and you and Sabrina went to a coffee shop to talk. Oh, well, Sam's really worried about Sabrina… You need girl advice… Oh I understand… You want me to see you?... I'll be there… I have to tell you some stuff too. Hang in there. I'll be there as soon as I can," Casey replied into the phone, hoping that she sounded natural.

"Good, see you soon then," Darrin said hanging up.

"Bye Anna," Casey said to the dial tone. She then turned to the group looking at her. Five years of hiding her emotions helped her present a completely blank slate to the group.

"Anna and Jason had a fight and she needs to be around friends at the moment. I'm going to tell them about Darrin but I might be a while," Casey told everyone in the room.

"I'll come with you. You have no idea what Darrin will do if he finds you," Derek said as Sam and Jim nodded their heads in agreement.

"No. We need girl time. Stay here and try to contact Emily," Casey replied. Before anyone could contradict her, she ran outside to her car and drove away.

Not even a minute after she left, the house phone rang. Derek walked into the kitchen to answer it while Sam followed behind him, still bewildered at the events unfolding.

"Hello," Derek said into the phone.

"Hey. Derek, right? It's Jason, Anna's boyfriend. I was just wondering if you know where she is."

"She went to a coffee shop to cool down after your fight," Derek said.

"Fight? What fight?"

"Uh… the one the two of you had."

"We never fought. I haven't seen her since this morning before I went to work and trust me, we definitely did not end on a bad note."

"Then what did- Why would Casey lie?" he asked himself.

Sam, even though was just getting Derek's end of the conversation knew only one reason why Casey would lie.

"To protect someone," Sam whispered, as he imagined his wife and two of his best friends in danger.

Reviews are always welcome


	11. Save Me

disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: Save Me  
"No, Casey's not that stupid. She wouldn't walk into danger like that. She's logical, rational," Derek said to Sam, still holding the phone to his ear.

"Derek, if that was true, then you would be dead. Logically, coma patients just don't wake up, like ever. Rationally, Casey should have pulled the plug yet didn't. And logically, when you did wake up and acted like an ass, she should have left you, yet she didn't. Casey may seem rational but she runs on her emotions," Sam replied.

"He probably told her no police," Derek said, knowing that Sam was right.

"Who?" Jason asked.

Derek wasn't listening to him though. "We have to get to the dance studio without the police knowing," he said, worried that the police would spook Darrin. "Their lives may depend on it."

"If they're still alive," Sam murmured as they devised a plan.

---

Casey parked her car in front of the dance studio. From the outside, the plaza looked isolated, almost peaceful, but she knew that in her studio horror waited her. Saying a brief prayer, she opened her car door, climbed out and walked to the studio. She unlocked the front door and stepped into the waiting room. Again, Casey was amazed at how serene the place looked. The office was locked up; all the dance studios' doors were closed. There was only a hint of light coming from underneath one of the doors and Casey knew that this was where her friends were, trapped inside with a monster.

She walked over and opened the door, seeing Darrin standing in the far corner, pointing his gun at her.

"Get in here and close the door," he ordered.

Casey did as she was told, looking around the room.

"Where are they?" she asked him.

He inclined his gun towards the closed door to the connecting washroom. Without thinking, Casey ran to it and opened it. Three pairs of fearful eyes stared back at her.

"Oh God," Casey said, dropping to her knees.

She was grateful that none of them looked hurt yet felt sick inside, seeing the duct tape on their mouths, hands, and ankles. All of them were cramped in the tiny washroom.

"Darrin, can I bring them out here please, the washroom is too small," Casey begged, turning around.

She was shocked that Darrin was only standing a few feet behind her. She didn't hear him move. He seemed like he was thinking it over. This was the first time she really looked at him and couldn't believe she never suspected him. His eyes should have told her all, as they were now.

"Only if you kiss me first," Darrin finally said.

"Wha- what?" Casey stammered.

"I'll even sweeten the pot. We can take off the duct tape on their mouths since no one can hear us now. But only if you kiss me, and it has to be a good kiss, not one of those silly pecks you always gave me on the cheek."

Casey felt nauseated. All those times she touched him, or let him touch her were not friendly touches to him but something more. Before she lost her nerve, she stood up and walked slowly toward him. She could hear her friends make noises of protest but she didn't look at them. She was too ashamed that her friends were in danger because of her.

She stood right in front of him, cupped his face in her shaking hands and pressed her lips to his. When she tried to pull away, Darrin wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing his hips into hers. He had the gun in that hand and she could feel it nudging her back, reminding her not to make sudden moves. His other hand slid up her side, grabbing her breast. Casey truly had to bite back the vomit, especially when he somehow managed to pry open her lips and stick his tongue in her mouth. She told herself not to give into the temptation to bite his tongue until blood was drawn. When she was running out of air, she dropped her hands and turned her head, breaking the kiss. That didn't stop Darrin though. He began to kiss her jaw and neck, pulling her closer.

"You have no idea how much I missed you Casey, no idea. Why did you leave me?" he murmured.

"Please," Casey begged, "let me bring our friends out."

Darrin sighed and stroked her cheek. "Okay princess, there will be plenty of time for this later."

He finally released her and she ran to her friends. She brought them out one at a time and sat them against the wall. It was hard though since their hands were taped together behind their backs. Casey looked at all three of them staring at the tape across their lips. She wasn't sure how to take the tape off. Slow and steady or rip it off fast like a band-aid. Apparently, Darrin had no patience and ripped off the tape that was across Anna's mouth.

"Bloody hell!" Anna shrieked. "I am going to kill you! And trust me, it'll be slow and painful! I'll start with cutting off your balls!"

Darrin slapped her before anyone could react. "Shut up!" he said. "I'll put tape back on if you don't shut up!" Without waiting for an acknowledgment, he ripped the tape off Sabrina's and Emily's lips.

"I'm sorry," Casey whispered to her friends.

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault. He's the one who hit me over the head with a picture frame," Emily said.

"It is her fault. If she had just pulled the plug on Derek, none of this would be happening. It was the perfect plan. I kill Derek, Casey was free to be with her soul mate; me," Darrin said.

"Naturally," Sabrina murmured but Darrin just continued his rant, beginning to pace.

"But as luck would have it, Sam reached Derek in time and saved him. I thought it was no big deal, Derek was in a coma and any person would see that the chance wasn't likely that he would wake up. A million to one; yet Casey here," Darrin said, waving the gun at her. Everyone tensed but he was far too gone to notice or care, "Was too stubborn. She just had to hang on when she could have been with me, the father of her youngest child."

Everyone looked at Casey, all having the same thought. Ben was the spinning image of Derek. There was no question of who the father was. No one wanted to enlighten Darrin though.

"Yet she chose to stay with Derek so I waited five years but I couldn't take it anymore. So I tried to kill him, pulled the plug myself and tried to make it look like an accident but instead he woke up. The bastard woke up. How the hell did he wake up? But it seemed like my luck was turning. Derek was a jerk, yelling and screaming like a child and I thought, if I wait a little longer, Casey would come to her senses and leave him and come to me. But you didn't, you stayed with him. I did everything for you. Anything you ever asked. I even went out with Emily."

"And slept with me, you asshole," Emily added.

"Why couldn't you just come to me? If you did, none of this would have happened," Darrin said, staring at Casey, almost pleading to her.

Everyone stopped moving when they heard a sound coming from outside. It sounded like a car driving by. Darrin quickly went to the door and opened it. As he stepped outside into the waiting room, Casey turned to her friends.

"Okay, we just have to distract him a little longer. I told Derek, Sam, and the police that Anna and Jason had a fight. Soon, Jason will call and ask if we know where you are. Once they realized that I lied, they will come," she whispered.

Now that the shock was gone, she realized that she should have told the police that Darrin contacted her but she was afraid that no one would let her go. Darrin for sure would have killed one of her friends if she didn't go.

"But if anyone comes near those front doors, he'll kill us," Emily whispered.

"That's true, but that isn't the only entrance," she said. At each of their blank faces, Casey continued. "There is a secret passageway from this studio to the store next to us. The door is right there," Casey said, pointing to the floor corner next to them. "Remember when we explored it and ran into Mr. Rae. He was angry because he used it for storage and was afraid that someone might try to steal from him. So he put a sliding lock on the inside of our entrance. We can't open it but someone in the passageway can. Once the police know, we'll be saved."

"There's a flaw in that plan. Everyone who knows about that is in this room or Mr. Rae," Anna said.

"Didn't you tell anyone?" Casey asked, looking at both Anna and Sabrina.

"No," they both replied.

"Not even Sam? You didn't retell the story on how we came across it?"

"No. I believe that was during the time Liza caught the flu and on top of that was the chicken pox. We were afraid she might not make it. We weren't talking about anything else," Sabrina explained.

"Anna? No one?"

"You know me. I wasn't dating anyone serious. Who would I tell?"

"Well, I told Derek," Casey said.

Anna, Sabrina, and Emily all groaned.

"We're doomed for sure," Anna muttered just as Darrin came back in.

"False alarm," Darrin said, referring to the sound.

Casey wasn't listening to Darrin though. She knew that Anna was probably right. The odds that Derek would remember the story weren't good. She had to think of a new plan.

---

"_I found a secret passageway today. Okay, granted, it's being used for storage so it isn't that secretive but it was still really cool."  
_  
Casey's voice sang in Derek's ear as he and Sam were crouching in a bush behind the plaza. Inexplicable joy flooded him as he recalled that moment. "Okay, so here's the plan," Derek started but stopped when he heard a noise.

They froze because they hadn't told the police that Casey had lied. No one should know that they were here. This was the second time they had frozen in fear: the first was when they heard a car drive around the plaza. It didn't stop though and they thought that they had nothing to worry about. They turned slowly and saw Jason behind them.

"How'd you know where to find us?" Sam asked in a whispered, after relaxing.

"Next time you plan in secret, don't leave me on the phone," he stated. "So what do we do?"

"Okay, you see that store," Derek pointed. "In there is a door to a passageway that leads into the studio. We can get in without Darrin noticing and save our women," Derek said.

"So how do we get into the store?" Sam asked.

"Easy," Derek said.

He walked to the back entrance of the store as the others followed. Taking a crowbar, he forced the back door open. He knew that there was probably a silent alarm, but they moved fast. It was more luck than brains that they were able to find the passage door quickly.

---

Casey sort of had a plan. Mostly it consisted of seducing Darrin into letting her take off the tape that bound her friends' hands and ankles together so that while he was distracted, they could run. The flaw with that plan though is that there was no way that her friends would leave her anymore than she would leave them. As she was contemplating that plan, she heard a voice coming from underneath the floor.

"Hey Sam, Jason! I found the door!" she heard Derek cry.

'The fool' she thought.

"What the hell?" Darrin said, walking towards the corner as Casey heard the latch unlock.

Darrin raised his gun and she knew that she had seconds to react before Darrin killed someone. She glanced at the ballet Pointe shoes that one of the girls left behind by accident. These shoes were made to allow ballerinas to support themselves when they were on their toes. They were able to do that with the hard, flat end of the shoes. Casey grabbed one of the shoes, stood up, and struck Darrin on the head, causing him to take a couple steps back just as the passageway door opened.

"You bitch!" Darrin cried, grabbing Casey by the throat with one hand and threw her towards the mirror.

Casey's body and the shoe banged into the mirror. The shoe caused the mirror to break. As Casey lost her balance and fell, shards of glass came crashing with her.

Darrin had already turned his back on her, raising his gun towards the passageway. Casey grabbed one of the pieces of glass and stabbed the back of his calf. Crying out in pain, Darrin turned the gun on her, about to fire when Derek body checked him into the wall, grabbing his wrist to get rid of the gun. Darrin managed to throw him off and because of the force, Derek lost his balance and fell on his back. Like slow motion, Casey saw Darrin lift the gun, aiming at Derek.

"No!" Casey cried and like she did when Jared and Sam had tried to hurt him, she jumped in front. Lying on top of him, Casey protected his body with hers.

Also seeing things in slow motion, Derek rolled over, now blocking Casey's body with his as he kissed her. Giving her one more kiss before he died. Casey had no time to react as a gun shot echoed in her ears.

"No!" she screamed. It couldn't be the end. She couldn't have had Derek back for only a couple hours and have him die again. She couldn't heal after this. She was going to die too.

She ran her hands up and down his back, looking for the bullet hole but she felt no blood. Derek wasn't groaning in pain either but Darrin was. Casey opened her eyes and saw Jim standing over Darrin, handcuffing him even though his right arm was bleeding.

"Made it here just in time," Jim said to her.

He was a bit angry that no one had told him that Darrin had contacted them and was extremely glad when Tom Rae reported that his silent alarm was on in his store next to the studio. Putting the clues together, he came to the studio straight away and was finally able to accomplish the promise he made to Casey.

"Oh my God!" Casey cried sitting up as Derek did also. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Derek replied, leaning in to kiss her but she shoved him back.

"What the hell Derek! He was going to kill you! I was trying to save you!"

"I know," he said, cupping her face. "I had to save you. I couldn't let you die. You're my life."

"You're mine too, but…" she tried to chastise him.

"Can I kiss you now?" he asked.

"You probably don't want to until I get some mouthwash. Darrin forced me to kiss him," she told him.

"And he touched her too!" Sabrina added as she rubbed her wrists once Sam and Jason had cut Anna, Emily, and her free.

Before anyone could react, Derek grabbed the Pointe shoe that Casey had used as a weapon and turned around, smacking it in Darrin's balls as Jim pulled him up. At the hit, Darrin knelt down, crying in pain.

"That's for touching my wife!" Derek declared.

Before he could swipe him again though, Emily grabbed the shoe and struck Darrin across the head. "And that's for hitting me with the picture frame!"

Sabrina then took the shoe, punching his stomach. "That's for putting duct tape on us!"

Not one to be left out, Anna grabbed the shoe and hit him once more on the head, knocking him unconscious. Anna turned to Jim. "When he wakes up, make sure he knows that it was for ripping the duct tape off. And remind him that I don't make empty threats. If he ever gets out of jail, his balls are going to be cut off."

"Will do. And don't worry, I'll explain that these injuries were self-defense. I'll get your statements tomorrow." He winked at them before dragging Darrin out of the room.

Anna and Sabrina then looked at Derek. "So, I take it you got your memory is back," Sabrina said.

"Yeah, not all of it though. I'm sure it'll come back in time," Derek replied, pulling Casey close to him.

"Well," Anna said, smirking. "I should remind you then that you promised that if anything ever needed fixing around here, that you would handle it," she said. She looked at the broken mirror and chipped paint. "This studio needs to be fixed by next week," she smirked.

"And I think other things need fixing," Sabrina added, grinning.

Derek sighed. Even though Casey let him off easy, their friends certainly wouldn't. If it was up to them, he would probably be doing slave labour for the next twenty years.

"Well, I guess that leaves me no choice but to agree. Only on one condition though," he said.

They all waited, wondering what he had up his sleeve.

"Casey has to kiss me," he declared, not waiting for a response, he crushed his lips to hers.

Sam, Sabrina, Jason, and Emily all turned away, giving them privacy while Anna groaned and rolled her eyes. "At least get a room. No one likes such public displays of affection!" she scoffed.

"Really," Jason said, and before she knew it, he grabbed her and kissed her too.

Sam quickly took after them and kissed Sabrina.

Emily looked around her and pulled a sad smile across her face. She was happy for all of them but she had just spent many months with a psycho. She vowed that she would never again allow Casey to set her up on a blind date. She smiled again, thinking how much she would enjoy seeing Darrin behind bars.

Reviews are always welcome


	12. Epilogue

a/n: so here is the end of this story. Special thanks to all my reviewers and readers. And a huge shout out to fishyfin1 for editing my chapters. Thanks so much for helping me make the story even better.

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 12: Epilogue

"And for studio A, group jazz dance, ages 8-9 the award is…"

Derek cheered. Screaming actually, as loud as he could, clapping his hands urgently together.

"Derek, he hasn't said the award yet," Casey whispered the same time the announcer turned to the audience.

"Again, jumping the gun," he said.

It was clear that Ella and Lily did not appreciate the interruption as they both glared out to the audience even though they couldn't see Derek because of the stage light shining down on them.

"I don't care. This is the first time I actually get to see them compete," he whispered back to Casey just as the announcer said that the award was gold.

Derek cheered again, along with Casey, Sam, Sabrina, Anna, Jason, Adam, and Ben. Casey looked at her friends as she cheered. She couldn't believe that only a little while ago, they were in a court room, watching and taking turns on the stand, testifying against Darrin.

Sometimes it felt unreal to her that Darrin did this. No matter how much she told herself that the Darrin she knew never existed, a random memory would pop up in her head and she would be reminded of how kind he acted. At least once a day she would wish that Darrin was actually who he pretended to be but as she listened to his stepfather and mother also testify against him, she got a sense of who he really was.

His life before university, one that he never shared with anyone, scared Casey a little bit. Darrin's mother had explained that when she remarried, Darrin became obsessed with his new stepsister, Casey. At first, Casey was flattered and since they were both seniors in high school, almost eighteen, their parents didn't stop them from dating. It was only when Casey broke up with him and started dating someone else that Darrin went crazy.

As his mother tearfully explained on the stand, she knew that he was heartbroken when they broke up but didn't realize how much he obsessed about her until it was too late. She had no proof at the time but she knew in her heart that he killed Casey, the boy she was dating, and the unborn son that she was carrying at the time. She kicked him out, never wanting to see him again. This explained so much to Casey about why Darrin had such an obsession on her.

After hearing this, late at night, Derek turned to Casey and tightly hugged her. At her confusion, he thanked her, claiming that if it weren't for her, he might have gone as crazy as Darrin when Clara dumped him. Casey tried to deny this but Derek had gotten all his memory back by this time. He had remembered all those times he tried to sneak out of the house late at night to go to Clara's and Casey stopped him. She followed him everywhere, stopping him from doing anything stupid. She had always been there for him and Derek would never forget that.

Even now, when he was cheering at the dance competition, he kept glancing at Casey, loving the way she smiled. She seemed to glow more now then ever, since she was, once again, pregnant.

Once the competition was over, Derek picked up both Ella and Lily, giving them both a kiss and telling them how proud he was of them.

"Dad! Don't kiss us in public!" Ella cried.

"Sorry, I'm just so proud of you two," Derek said as they walked out of the building.

"We all are, proud of everyone," Casey added, looking at both her girls, then Liza.

When they reached the vehicles, Casey heard someone call her. Looking back, she saw Clara run up to her. Behind her were her husband and two daughters.

"Casey!" she said hugging her.

Although they had talked many times on the phone and sent countless e-mails, they hadn't seen each other in years.

Casey hugged her back before they both looked at Derek.

"Hey Clara, how are you?" Derek asked.

"Good, you?" she replied.

"A bit embarrassed. Sorry about that whole 'run away with me' thing," he said.

"Hey, it's in the past. Never to be mentioned again," she quickly forgave him.

"Would you like to come over, we were just going home to order some pizza," Casey offered.

Clara shook her head. "Sorry, we have to head home before it gets too dark."

"That's fine. Another time then," Derek said.

"And soon," Casey added, giving Clara another hug before they parted

It didn't take long before they arrived at the house. As Derek pulled up into the driveway, he saw Emily standing up from her sitting position on the porch steps as well as the guy beside her. Derek looked at Casey.

"Did you know she was back?" he asked her.

Casey shook her head. After the trial and Darrin's life sentence, Emily left Canada, deciding to travel Europe for a while. Casey had no idea that Emily was back in Canada.

As they climbed out, Ella, Lily, and Ben ran up to Emily, shouting her name at the top of their lungs.

"Hey," she said, hugging all three of them before looking at Derek and Casey. By this time, Sam, Sabrina with their children and Anna with Jason had arrived and were walking up the driveway.

"Sorry, I should have called but my mother was driving us insane and we needed to get out of the house quickly," she said.

Every adult nodded slowly. Everyone was cautious of the man beside Emily, all protective of her, since she was the one that got the biggest shock about Darrin.

Seeing everyone's gaze, Emily looped arms with the guy beside her. "Everyone, this is John, I met him in England before I came here and met Darrin. We broke up but rekindled when I went back to Europe. We're getting married," Emily said holding up her ring to show everyone.

No one said anything. Not knowing what to say.

"Don't worry, I've known John for about a year and had three background checks on him before I said yes."

"You're faith is impeccable," John said as everyone broke out in smiles, hugging him and welcoming him. As long as he wasn't psychotic, they were happy for Emily.

As Casey ushered everyone inside and pulled out snacks she looked around, catching Derek's eye and they shared a smile. She couldn't believe that this was her life now. So different from the one she had to live for the past five years. Now, she was able to slow down and enjoy life.

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